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National Memorial Arch in honor of George Washington 
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army of the Revo- 
lution and his Officers, located upon the outer line Boulevard 
near the intersection of Gulf Road. Designed by Paul P. 
Cret. Cost $100,000. Dimensions, fifty feet high and forty 
feet wide at base. Material, granite. 







General George Washington 
Commander-in-Chief 



Painted by Col. TrunibuU from studies 
probably made at Valley Forge 



SECOND AND REVISED EDITION 



VALLEY FORGE 

A Chronicle of American Heroism 




FRANK H. TAYLOR 

Author and Illustrator 

JAMES W. NAGLE 

Publisher 



Issued under the direction of 



The Valley Forge Park Commission 



COPIES IN PAPER OR CLOTH 

May be had at Valley Forge Headquarters, from 

Philadelphia Book Stores 

and from Frank H. Taylor, or A. M. Slocum Co., 718 Arch St. 

Philadelphia 



Copyright, 1911 
By FRANK H. TAYLOR 






INDEX 



PACK 

How to Reach Valley Forge I 

Important Features to be Seen at Valley Forge Park I 

Preface 5 

The Valley Forge Park Commission and Its Work 6 

The Song of Valley Forge 8 

Chapter I — Valley Forge in 1777 — Movements in the Campaign of 1777 — Lord 

Howe's Advance on Philadelphia, 1777 9 

Chapter II — -Impulse of the Valley Forge Centennial 13 

Chapter III — The British Army in Philadelphia 16 

Chapter IV — Occupation of Valley Forge — Washington's Military Family — The 

Headquarters Building \^ 

Chapter V — The Commander-in-Chief's Life Guard — Formation of the Second 

or Continental Army 24 

Chapter VI— A Word Picture of the Camp 28 

Chapter VII — Routine of the Camp 33 

Chapter VIII— The Cry of Distress 36 

Chapter IX — Washington's Ot)timism — The Conway Cabal 39 

Chapter X — The Coming of Baron Steuben 43 

Chapter XI — The French Alliance ^ 49 

Chapter XII— The Marquis de Lafayett*e \.\ S3 

Chapter XIII — Departure of the Army from Valley Forge 57 

Chapter XIV — Valley Forge in After Years — The Tribute of a British Officer 

— Soldiers of the Several States — The Hessian Mercenaries — The LoyaHsts. 58 

Notes and Citations 64 

Roster of Troops at Valley Forge 89 




©CIA28B90G 







PREFACE 




t; 



I HE notations employed in this chronicle are selected from 
the Wayne Orderly Book, which is deposited in the collec- 
tion of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and from 
the Weedon Orderly Book, which was, in 1839, presented 
by a descendant of General Weedon to the Library of the 
American Philosophical Society, in Philadelphia, where it 
still reposes. 

Other publications and manuscripts consulted and quoted are, 
especially, the files of the Pennsylvania Magazine, the original 
roster of many of the regiments present at the evacuation of 
the Valley Forge camp (in possession of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania), Watson's Annals, Godfrey's The Commander- 
in-Chief's Guard, Stedman's History of the American War, 
London, 1794; address of Henry Armitt Brown, Esq.; address by 
Peter Boyd, Esq., at the dedication of the monument at John 
Waterman's grave, Oct. 19, 1901 ; Sabine's American Loyalists 
and a series of British regimental histories in the collection of 
Mr. Reginald L. Hart. 

The illustrations, mainly from photographs by the author, 
alst) include many from photographs taken by Miss L. A. Sampson, of Berwyn, 
Pa. ; Mr. S. R. Fisher, of Norristown, Pa. ; Mr. J. W. Kennedy and others. 

Countless pens have been busy with the story of Valley Forge. The testimony 
of many who were participants in or witnesses of its events, pathetic, thrilling 
and inspiring, has been preserved for the study of those who seek to again sketch 
the vivid picture of which the place, as it exists to-day, is but the frame. 

It only remains, therefore, to so rehearse the tale and arrange its corroborative 
evidence in some show of order that it may be convenient for those who are 
disposed to read these pages. 

The present edition includes many newly stated facts which have come to 
the author from readers in various parts of the country and from England. 

F. H. T. 




Drive, up the Hill from Washington's Headqi'arters 

THE VALLEY FORGE PARK COMMISSION AND ITS WORK 

"To acquire, maintain and preserve forever 

The Revolutionary CAMP GROUND at Valley Forge, 

for the free enjoyment of the people of the State." 

The Valley Forge Park Commission, created by the State Legislature upon 
May 30th, 1893, met for organization upon June nth following. The historic 
property thus far acquired and improved aggregates 472 acres and lies in an 
irregular form in both Montgomery and Chester counties. 

The State appropriations for this purpose to January ist, 1910, were $139,802.12. 
The Commissioners, in the expenditure of the sums thus far provided by successive 
legislatures, have created a magnificent memorial park traversed by perfect road- 
ways ; have restored and preserved redoubts and entrenchments, erected massive 
markers of military positions ; have seen placed upon its appropriate site a superb 
equestrian bronze of Major-General Anthony Wayne; have erected upon Mount 
Joy a lofty observatory, and finally, having purchased the Washington Headquarters 
building from the patriotic association which had preserved it, have made it free 
to the many thousands who annually visit this sacred spot. It is expected that 
further lands identified with the records of the Revolutionary Encampment will 
eventually be added to the present park and that all of the original States whose 
sons suffered here will erect dignified memorials upon their respective camping sites. 

The present Commissioners are : W. H. Sayen, President, 1414 South Penn 
Square, Philadelphia, Pa.; J. P. Nicholson, Vice-President, Flanders Building, 
Philadelphia, Pa.; Samuel S. Hartranft, Treasurer, Norristown, Pa.; J. P. Hale 
Jenkins, Norristown, Pa.; M. G. Brumbaugh, Philadelphia, Pa.; W. A. Patton, 
Radnor, Pa. ; Richmond L.^Jones, Reading, Pa. ; John W. Jordan, Philadelphia, Pa. ; 
John T. Windrim, Philadelphia, Pa. ; A. H. Bowen, Secretary. The city office of 
the Commission is at 1414 South Penn Square. 




, THE SONG OF VALLEY FORGE 

'We go with the axe our huts to raise, 
And then to creep to the camp-fire's blaze. 
And talk, as our heartstrings closer twine, 
Of comrades lost at Brandywine. 

"We will know what famine means, and wish 
For the nook of home and the smoking dish ; 
And our aching limbs as they shrink with cold 
Will feel how scant is the garment's fold. 

'The foe will lodge in the city gay. 
And Howe and his troops keep cares away. 
And the feast and dance will loudly tell 
How St. George's sons hold carnival. 

"But we in the rude-built huts will wait 
For a brighter day and a nobler fate ; 
And as clings to the sire the trusting son 
We will nestle close to our Washington." 

— Lyrics of the Revolution. 





The Foundations of the Forge Dam 



CHAPTER I. 



VALLEY FORGE IN SEVENTEEN SEVENTY-SEVEN 

See Note upon page 65. 

NINETEEN miles in a direct line northwest from the centre of Philadelphia 
a small stream, having its rise in the fertile bottoms of the Chester Valley, 
pours northward through a deep and shadowy defile ' into the Schuylkill 
River. Midway up this ravine, distant half a mile from the river, a small 
iron-working industry called the Mountjoy Forge had been in operation 
many years prior to the Revolutionary War. This forge was reputed to have been 
the first one built in the province. One report refers to its sale by the original 
owner in 1719, but Mr. Howard M. Jenkins, after a painstaking search of the 
records, states that it was built by Stephen Evans, Daniel Walker and Joseph 
Williams in 1742, and was sold wholly or in part to John Potts in 1757. He 
also concludes that it was situated upon the northeastern side of the stream. It 
was also known as the valley forge. Further down the stream were a saw 
mill and a grist mill. Nearby, with an outlook upon the river, was the stone 
residence which, at the opening of the Revolutionary War, was the home of Isaac 
Potts, grandson of John Potts, who operated the saw and grist mills. Dating from 
"^ITh the forge was owned by William Dewees, Jr., a colonel of militia. Information 
having reached the British officers that a quantity of ordnance stores and flour 
intended for the Continental Army was stored here, the enemy burned the lower 
mills during the march of the British column through this section in September, 




The Present Mill and \'allev Road 



1777. The forge was not burned. It was from this forge that many a camp-oven 
was provided with iron plates taken by the soldiers. 

The heights were covered by the primeval forest, but the arable land in 
the vicinity in both Montgomery and Chester Counties was farmed by the 
thrifty Quaker and Welsh elements which had long been settled here. 

To the neighborhood of this retired spot came the Continental Army, upon 
December 19, 1777, seventy-six days after the disastrous battle of Germantown. 

General Washington brought to this refuge from his camps in the vicinity of 
White Marsh, a place twelve miles from the city, a force of about 11,000 men. His 
army remained in its quarters upon these bleak hills six months, and during that 
period suffered hardships, which have made the name of Valley Forge the synonym 
of all that is heroic and faithful in the fame of the men who served in the patriot 
army and finally secured to us the liberties under which this nation has ever since 
existed, prospered and multiplied. 

When the soldiers of the Continental regiments moved away from Valley 
Forge upon the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British they left, either in 
unmarked graves or in the hospitals scattered through the eastern part of the 
State, between three and four thousands of their comrades, who had surrendered 
to privations greater than which no army in ancient or modern times has been 
called upon to endure. 

Nothing could perhaps more significantly emphasize the misery of the time 
than the fact that no accurate or even approximate record of deaths at Valley 
Forge has been found, nor is it known with certainty where the common burial 
place is located. Of all the hapless victims of the camp but one of the multitude 
buried here sleeps in an identified grave. 

For a century the scene of this encampment remained without dedication to 
the sacred memory of these heroes. This reproach has now been removed by the 
State of Pennsylvania. 



MOVEMENTS IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 1777, ENDING WITH THE 

OCCUPATION OF VALLEY FORGE AS A WINTER 

REFUGE BY WASHINGTON'S ARMY 

See Notes upon pages 64, 65 and 66. 

May Sir William Howe's forces, comprising 18,000 effective troops in 

position at New Brunswick and Amboy. Washington, with about 6000, conti- 
nentals, exclusive of cavalry and artillery and of 500 New Jersey militia, (a total 
according to Bryant, of 7,300 men) broke winter camp at Morrist'own and 
advanced to Middlebrook Heights, ten miles from New Brunswick. 

June British army moved to Staten Island, American force still at 

Middlebrook. 

^ July 23d, British fleet under Lord Howe sailed from New York with entire 
British army in command of his brother Sir William Howe, appearing briefly a 
week later at the capes of the Delaware. Washington encamped on Neshaminy 
creek, 20 miles north of Philadelphia. 

^Aug. 20th the enemy appeared in Chesapeake Bay. On the 23d Washing- 
ton's army marched through Philadelphia and to Wilmington. 

The enemy disembarked upon the 2Sth at the Elk river, 54 miles southwest 
from Philadelphia. 

Septj nth, Battlq of Brandywine. Retreat of Americans to Chester, Phila- 
delphia and Germantown. Americans then numbered about 11,000 men, exclusive 
of Gates' command in the North. On the 15th, Washington advanced to Warren 
Tavern, on the Lancaster Pike, a heavy storm ruined the ammunition and led to 
a retreat to Yellow Springs and thence across the Schuylkill river near 
Phoenixville. Llowe advanced at his leisure, covering a wide stretch of rich 
country. Upon the night of Sept. 19th, a body of Wayne's men, detached to 
operate in the rear of the British left flank, was surprised at Paoli, many being 
bayonetted. 

Sept. 2ist, Howe's columns reached the Schuylkill river in force, crossing 
at several points above and below Valley Forge. Upon the 26th they marched 
into Philadelphia, leaving a strong force in Germantown. 

October 4th. Battle of Germantown, retreat of Americans to White 
Marsh about six miles north from Chestnut Hill. 

November loth. Lord Howe's ships invested Fort Mifilin and Fort Mercer 
below the city. An incident of this movement was the Battle of Red Bank, N. J., 
ni which Count Donop, the Hessian commander, was mortally wounded. 

Dec. 19th. After an exhausting march from White Marsh via Gulf Mills, 
Washington's troops arrived upon the hills at Valley Forge. Four days later 
nearly 3000 men of this force were sick or too nearly naked to do duty. 

Lord Howe's Advance on Philadelphia, 1777 

From the Diary of a British Sergeant hitherto unpublished. 

Aug. 25. Army landed at Elk Ferry, ist under Cornwallis at Elk Ferry, 2d 
under Kuyphausen at Cecil Court House. 

Aug. 28. Army marched, arrived at Head of Elk. 

Aug. 31. Cornwallis and Grant marched 4 or 5 miles to a small place called 
"Iron Works," returned to camp. 

Sept. 3. Troops reached Pencador 4 miles east of Elk on road to 
Christiana Bridge. Americans made a stand at the bridge, but retreated to 
main body by Iron Hills. 




Headquarters of Gen. Howe near Valley Forge 
IN September, 1777. 



Sept. 6. Gen. Grant from Elk, Avith his troops, joined the army. 

Sept. 8. Whole army marched from the left by Newark 6 miles and encamped 
in the township of Hokesson. The two armies, British and American, 4 miles 
apart. 

Sept. 9. One third of army marched toward New Market, Cornwallis with 
his Division to Hokesson Meeting House, others to Kennett Square. 

Sept. 10. All met this morning and moved toward Brandywine Creek. 

Sept. II. Battle of Brandywine. 

Sept. 12. Kuyphausen's men remained on Heights. Gen. Grant moved to 
Concord. 

Sept. 13. Cornwallis joined and proceeded to Ashton, 5 miles from Chester 
and encamped. 71st Regt. to Wilmington. 

Sept. 16. Army in 2 columns moved from Ashton toward Goshen Meeting 
House and Downingtown. 

Sept. 17. Early A. M. to Yellow Springs and at night to White Elorse, 
Cornwallis 2 miles beyond. 

Sept. 18. Army joined and marched to Tredyffryn. Light Infantry to 
Valley Forge. 

Sept. 20 Paoli affair. 

Sept. 21. Army at Valley Forge, line extended from Fatland Ford to French 
Creek. Moved to Pottsgrove. 

Sept. 22. Part of army crossed at Fatland Ford, others at Gordon's Ford. 

Sept. 23. Whole army encamped, left to Schuylkill and right on Manatawny 
road, with stony run in front. A force detached to Swede's Ford. 

Sept. 26. Force under Cornwallis took Philadelphia. 



CHAPTER II 
IMPULSE OF THE VALLEY FORGE CENTENNIAL 

Upon June 19th, 1878, the centennial of the withdrawal of the army from 
Valley Forge was celebrated by the presence of the Pennsylvania National 
Guards and by appropriate addresses by distinguished speakers. 

Through the patriotic impulse resulting 
from this event the Valley Forge Centennial 
Association was formed and money was 
raised to purchase the old Isaac Potts house 
and its grounds, occupied by General Wash- 
ington as his headquarters after the army 
had constructed its encampment. This was 
done, and the old mansion became a much 
visited place. 

Through persistent effort upon the part 
of the Association a Commission was 
appointed under an Act of the Legislature 
of May 30, 1893, to carry into effect its pur- 
pose to acquire, by the State of Pennsylvania, 
"a certain ground at Valley Forge for a 
public park." 

The general contour of the encampment 
plateau is rolling, the average elevation being 
about two hundred feet above tide, but rising 
to the westward into two rounded elevations, 
which are respectively 340 and 424 feet high, 
the Valley Creek flowing along their precipi- 
tous western bases. From these hills, and, 
in fact, from all parts of the camp-ground, 
a clear view is enjoyed of a far-reaching 
expanse of country, now largely farmed or 
occupied by splendid private estates. 

Far down the field of Valley Forge, 
nearly one mile eastward from the Hunting- 
don redoubt, stands the shaft marking the 
grave of John Waterman, of Rhode Island, 
Commissary in Varnum's brigade. This 
monument is erected upon ground which, 
with its approach, was presented for the 
purpose by Major and Mrs. I. Heston Todd 
to the Daughters of the Revolution who 
dedicated it upon October 19, 1901 ; Peter 
Boyd, Esq.. making the address. 

To the southward upon the elevation occu- 
pied by the Pennsylvanians, an equestrian 
statue of Major-Gcneral Anthony Wayne 
was dedicated upon June 20, 1908. One mile 
eastward is a modest marker erected by the 
State of Maine to the soldiers of that section 
serving with Massachusetts troops. Near by, 

The John Waterman Monument, "P°" ^''^ ^^™^ ^"^'^ 'S the new Massachu- 

West of the River Drive setts Memorial. 




13 




Bronze Mpcmorial of Major-Gkn. Anthony Wayne 

Upon Outer Line Boulevard in Front of the Site of the 

Cantonment of His Troops, Dedicated June 2oth, 1908 



14 



CHAPTER III 
THE BRITISH ARMY IN PHILADELPHIA 

See Notes upon pages 66, 68, 70 and 71 

Upon October 19, 1777, Sir William Howe moved his forces into the city of 
Philadelphia. The nervous suspense of the inhabitants, sustained, already, for 
many weeks, culminated, upon that memorable day, when a squadron of dragoons 
galloped down Second Street through crowds of expectant onlookers, soon followed 
by a column of the grenadiers, brilliant in their red coats, red caps, fronted with 
silver shields, Lord Cornwallis and his staff in the lead. Riding with them, their 
faces doubtless reflecting their sense of triumph, were five civilians — Joseph Gallo- 
way, Enoch Story, Tench Coxe, Andrew Allen and William Allen, all bitter Tories, 
men whose names were to appear a few years later among those adjudged to be 
traitors and aliens. 

Behind the grenadiers came the hated Hessians, barbaric in their fierce 
moustaches, their uniforms of dark blue and towering brass headgear. The 
columns, artillery and baggage soon choked the central streets of the town, and 
staff officers were busy everywhere in securing buildings of suitable comfort as 
headquarters for their respective chiefs. With the adaptability of a trained and 
veteran force the army of British and mercenaries was later housed snugly and 
securely in the rear of their defenses for the coming period of comparative idleness. 
The streets were gay with brilliant groups, the taverns roaring with business, and 
pageantry of war everywhere rife. An entrenchment was run fromi a redoubt at a 
point now the intersection of Twenty-second and Chestnut Streets along the eastern 
side of the Schuylkill River to the elevation at Fairmount, which has, for nearly 
a century, been used as a basin of water supply. From a redoubt at this point 
the entrenchment was extended to the Delaware River along the ridge behind 
Hickory Lane (Coates Street, now Fairmount Avenue), and including the Bush 
Hill property. Behind this (see map) were aligned the regiments, just to the 
north of the present line of Callowhill Street. The old British Barracks at Camp- 
ingtown, Green Street, between Second and Third Streets, were used, and also 
the Bettering House and other large buildings. 

The several roads leading outward in the direction of the American camps 
were patrolled as follows : Ridge Road was watched by the Yagers. The light 
infantry of the line guarded Germantown Road. The light infantry of the guard 
patrolled Old York (or York Town) Road and the Queen's Rangers (provincials) 
watched the Frankford Road. These outer guards were, in turn, covered by 
bodies of cavalry, which operated, in fact, in all directions from the town in order 
to afford the country people, who were often hiding in the woods with their 
supplies, a safe conduct to market. This procedure continued through the winter 
attended by constant minor conflicts. 

Both armies foraged far. In February General Wayne detoured into South 
Jersey to obtain cattle, in which he was successful. Occasionally considerable 
expeditions of the British were sent out to forage, as in the case of the raid down 
the river to Salem, resulting in the massacre of patriot outposts upon Alloway's 
Creek at Quinton's Bridge and Hancock House. 

Within the town, where, with the soldiery, some sixty thousand people were 
living, the ordinary affairs of life proceeded much as usual. The general attitude 
of the British officers was conciliatory and there was little of malicious destruction. 
Money and the essentials of life were plenty, and some occupations flourished to 
an unusual degree. 

16 



Sir William Howe had long before formed a resolution to resign the command 
of the British forces. Moved, perhaps, by the gloom which overspread the Britons 
after the fall of Count Donop at Red Bank and the spectacular destruction of the 
frigate Augusta and the sloop Merlin, he wrote as follows, upon the twenty-eighth 
of October, 1777, to the Secretary of State of the American Department, Lord 
George Germaine : 

"From the little attention, my lord, given to my recommendations since the 
commencement of my command, I am led to hope that I may be relieved from this 
very painful service, wherein I have not the good fortune to enjoy the necessary 
confidence and support of my superiors, but which, I conclude, will be extended to 
Sir Henry Clinton, my presumptive successor. By the return of the packet I 
humbly request I may have his Majesty's permission to resign." 

It should be recorded that this peevish letter gave occasion for great astonish- 
ment to the home authorities which had diligently promoted the means for sustain- 
ing Howe and his army in the field. 

In Tory circles there was much of gaiety, this culminating in the early summer 
with the fete of the famous Meschianza. 

Howe's opera bouffe "last apearance" in Philadelphia at this historic fete, 
with its mediaeval follies and flamboyant, "Thy laurels are immortal," set all of 
Great Britain astir with sardonic laughter, followed, after his arrival home, by a 
stormy period of recrimination between the crown and its supporters upon the one 
hand and Gen. Howe and the opposition upon the other, the echoes of which 
reverberated to the beginning of another century. 

Thus ended the career in America of an officer who had proven himself, 
fortunately for the patriot army and cause, the most incompetent warrior in British 
history, a soldier of whom Stedman, the English historian of the Revolution, 
wrote sixteen years later, "None of his military exploits possessed either plan, object 
or decision, and the only fruit derived from the several victories of Sir William 
Howe, during the campaign of 1777, amounted to no more than the acquisition of 
good winter quarters for the British Army at Philadelphia." 

CHAPTER IV 
OCCUPATION OF VALLEY FORGE BY THE CONTINENTAL ARMY 

See Notes upon pages 72, 74 and 76 

When the patriot army moved from White Marsh the matter of the winter 
location was apparently still undetermined. A wide diversity of opinion existed 
among the general officers, some favoring a general assault upon the city, others 
proposing Wilmington, Lancaster and Reading. 

The first objective of the creeping army, after turning its back upon Camp 
Hill, was the opposite shore of the Schuylkill River. The advance found, upon 
reaching Matson's Ford, a force of 3,000 British awaiting them upon the opposite 
side. That night the Americans moved up to Swede's Ford and built a bridge 
of wagons, over which a force was thrown and the hills occupied around the 
Gulph Mills. Gulph Mills is situated about one and a half miles inland from the 
Schuylkill River and six miles from Valley Forge. The army's baggage was long 
in crossing the river and much confused. The majority of the soldiers slept, 
the first two or three nights, upon the snow-clad ground. 

The coming of the army to Valley Forge was so unexpected by the neighboring 
residents that they were taken utterly by surprise. Within a short time a 
military town of probably one thousand huts of logs had arisen and a large 

17 




Ruin of the Old Gulph Mill 




Memorial Bowlder and Tablet at Gulph Mill 



i8 




Thk Road from Gulph Mill to Valley Forge 



portion of the forest had already been sacrificed in the work of building and for 
fires. The stumps and brush were left along the declivity in front of the 
earthworks as a defense against storming parties. Later, when the redoubts were 
dug, a series of sharply-pointed pickets was planted between them. The redoubts 
were four feet high, with a ditch six feet wide. 

General Washington occupied his usual army tent and shared the out-of-door 
log fires of the soldiery during the work of building the huts, and it was probably 
upon Christmas Day that he accepted the invitation of Isaac Potts, the miller 
and the minister of Friends, and moved into his snug house at the foot of the 
hill. Upon this day he found time to write up his ledger, making the following entry : 

"To expenditures in the different and continual movements of the army from 
Germantown Sept. 15 till we hutted at Valley Forge the 25th of Dec. pr. mem., 
$1,037.00 or ijS.io." 

Washington's Military Family 

At the time of Washington's occupation of the Potts residence, his military 
family consisted of the following persons. Robert H. Harrison, Secretary, May 
16, 1776, to March 25, 1782; Tench Tilghman, Volunteer Secretary and A. D. C., 
August 8, 1776, to December 23, 1783; Alexander Hamilton, A. D. C, March i, 
1777) to December 23, 1783; Richard K. Meade, A. D. C., March 12, 1777, to 
December 23, 1783; Presley P. Thornton, A. D. C, September 6, 1777, to — ; John 
Laurens A. D. C., September 6, 1777, to August 27, 1782; Marquis de Lafayette; 
Captain Caleb Gibbs, Commander of the Life Guard. 

In May of the following year Dr. James McHenry became Secretary and John 
Fitzgerald replaced Thornton. The names of Matthew Clarkson and David S. 
Franks appear as aides-de-camp upon the Valley Forge oath list. 

19 



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Page in Washington's Ledger Including His Expenditures 
While at Valley Forge 




King of Prussia Tanekn 



With the exception of Captain Gibbs and Lafayette, these 
attaches were without military rank, but later, in the course of 
the war. Congress issued commissions of Lieutenant-Colonel to 
those who, at the time, filled these confidential positions. 

Young Laurens, the General's favorite among the staff, was 
destined to fall, after return from an important errand to 
France, upon his native Southern soil. Alexander Hamilton 
died many years afterward by the hand of one who was also 
an officer in this camp. 

Colonel Alexander Scammel, Adjutant-General, was 
doubtless considered a member of Washington's military 
family. It is said that Scammel was the only man in the 
army who could make Washington laugh. 

The Commander's Corps of Life Guards was quar- 
tered in buildings close at hand, ready for instant duty. 
Outposts watched every pathway of approach to the 
headquarters, and whenever Washington moved about 
the camp he was attended by a considerable escort for 
protection. The road in front and grounds around the 
house were constantly animated by officers and staffs, 
orderlies and others awaiting audience. 

No portion of the camp was too remote to escape the 
attention of the hard-working Commander-in-Chief. 




Dragoons 




Washington's Hkadquarters— The Hallway 




Washington's Headquarters— The Parlor 




Washington's Headquarters— The Office, Looking Toward Hallway 



i 



Washington's Headquarters Building 

The surroundings of this principal existing memento of the camp at 
Valley Forge have been greatly improved. It is open every day throughout 
the year. Its several rooms are lined with interesting relics and documents. 
A bronze tablet in the hall bears testimony to the patriotic work 
of the Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge in 
preserving in its original condition with the aid of the Patriotic 
Order Sons of America this sacred structure until it passed into 
the custody of the state. 

The rear room is said to have been used as Washington's 
office, after a log cabin had been built in the rear for a dining-room. 
The box in which he kept his papers is to be seen between the 
windows. The wing building contained the kitchen, beneath 
which was a cellar, reached by stone steps. 

The bed-rooms upon the second floor have been furnished by 
the Valley Forge and Chester County Chapters, D. A. R., and 
the attic above by the Merion Chapter, D. A. R. Each article 
displayed has its own interesting story of the colonial and 
revolutionary periods. 

It is largely due to the efforts of patriotic ladies of Chester 
and Montgomery counties that not only has the headquarters 
building been so carefully preserved, but that the entire reser- 
vation has been made, under the direction of the Commissioners, 
the splendid object lesson as it now exists. To the effective 
interest of Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker is chiefly due 
the liberal sums devoted to the work. 




A Private of the 
Life Guard 




Washington's Headquarters — His Office 



CHAPTER V 
THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF'S LIFE GUARD 

See Notes upon pages 75, 76, and 83. 

Captain Caleb Gibbs was promoted Major and Henry Philip Livingston became 
Captain of the Life Guard in December, 1777. 

Captain Gibbs acted as disbursing officer for General Washington's military 
household, holding this relation to the General from June, 1776, to the end of 
1780, as shown by the General's accounts. 

The Commander-in-Chief's Guard was formed, originally, under an order by 
Washington dated at Cambridge, 
March 11, 1776. For this purpose /A 
four men carefully selected from , , ^^, 
each regiment were detailed to this "~'" 
duty. Caleb Gibbs, of Massachu- 
sets, became Captain, and George 
Lewis, of Virginia, a nephew of 
General Washington, was appointed 
Lieutenant. The corps numbered 
sixty men exclusive of officers. 

While on duty in New York 
an attempt to poison the General 
was discovered, which involved 
several of the men, one of whom, 
an Irishman named Hickey, was 
hanged in consequence. The guard, 
as reorganized. May i, 1777, at 
Morristown, numbered fifty-six 




Flag of the Life Guard 



24 




Washington's Headquarters 
Attic Bedroom 




Washington's Headquarters 
The Rear, Showing Office Window and Reproduced Log Dining Room 



25 



men, exclusive of officers. This body was equipped as infantry, in addition to 
which a small force of horse was maintained, of which George Lewis was 
Captain. Special details from the cavalry regiments sometimes performed 
escort duty. 

The Southern troops, commanded by General Lachlin Mcintosh, of Georgia, 
occupied the hill to the left of Headquarters. General Mcintosh succeeded General 
Francis Nash, who died from wounds received at the Battle of Germantown. This 
Brigade was in close .touch with Headquarters. 




Along the Outer Line Boulevard 

Formation of the Second or Continental Army 

At the end of the year 1777 the original patriot army ceased to exist. By a 
resolution of Congress, September 16, 1766, eighty-eight battalions of eight 
companies each were to be enlisted for three years "or the war." In these new 
organizations the greater part of the one-year men re-enlisted. These new regiments 
were styled the Continental Line and were apportioned to the several States 
as follows : 

New Hampshire, three regiments ; Massachusetts, fifteen regiments ; Rhode 
Island, two regiments; Connecticut, eight regiments; New York, four regiments; 
New Jersey, four regiments ; Pennsylvania, twelve regiments ; Delaware, one 
regiment ; Maryland, eight regiments ; Virginia, fifteen regiments ; North Carolina, 
nine regiments ; South Carolina, six regiments ; Georgia, one regiment. 

As far as possible the organizations of each State were formed into divisions or 
sub-divisions, and were consecutively numbered. Although officially known by 
their numbers and States, they were more commonly designated by the name of 
their respective colonels. This practice is followed in the list of officers which 
subscribed to the oath at Valley Forge. 

In addition to these organizations four regiments of dragoons and four of 
artillery were established, and various bodies of rangers, scouts and similar 
independents were continued from the first army or recruited for the new one. 
The army list contains names of two Canadian regiments. 

In the spring of 1778 Congress authorized new regiments of sappers and 
miners. 

(See the general list of regiments and commanders upon pages 88, 89 and 90.) 

26 




General George Washington 



27 




The Star Redoubt, Guarded by Varnum's Rhode Islanders 

CHAPTER VI 

A WORD PICTURE OF THE CAMP 

See Notes upon pages 76, 78 and 79. 

Probably the most effective existing word picture of the scene, when the camp 
had been established, is to be found in the memorable address of that talented young 
Philadelphian, Henry Armitt Brown, Esq., delivered at the centennial celebration of 
the departure of the army from the camp. 

"These are the huts of Huntington's Brigade, of the Connecticut line ; next 
to it those of Pennsylvanians under Conway. This is the Irish-Frenchman, soon to 
disappear in a disgraceful intrigue. Here in the camp there are many who 
whisper that he is a mere adventurer, but in Congress they still think him a great 
military character. Down toward Headquarters are the Southerners, commanded 
by Lachlin Mcintosh, in his youth 'the handsomest man in Georgia.' Beyond 
Conway, on the hill, is Maxwell, a gallant Irishman, commissioned by New 
Jersey. Woodford, of Virginia, commands on the right of the second line, and in 
front of him the Virginian, Scott. The next brigade in order is of Pennsylvanians 
— many of them men whose homes are in this neighborhood — Chester county boys 
and Quakers from the Valley turned soldier for their country's sake. They are 
the children of three races; the hot Irish blood mixes with the cooler Dutch in 
their calm English veins, and some of them — their chief, for instance — are splendid 
fighters. There he is, at this moment, riding up the hill from his quarters in the 
valley. A man of medium height and strong frame, he sits his horse well and with a 
dashing air. His nose is prominent, his eye piercing, his complexion ruddy, his 
whole appearance that of a man of splendid health and flowing spirits. He is 
just the fellow to win by his headlong valor the nickname of 'The Mad.' But he 
is more than a mere fighter. Skillful, energetic, full of resources and presence of 
mind, quick to comprehend and prompt to act, of sound judgment and extraordinary 
courage, he has in him the qualities of a great general as he shall show many a 
time in his short life of one-and-fifty years. Pennsylvania, in her quiet fashion, 
may not make as much of his fame as it deserves, but impartial history will allow 
her none the less the honor of having given its most brilliant soldier to the 
Revolution in her Anthony Wayne. Poor, of New Hampshire, is encamped next, 
and then Glover, whose regiment of Marblehead sailors and fishermen manned 
the boats that saved the army on the night of the retreat from Long Island. 
Larned, Patterson and Weedon follow, and then, at the corner of the intrenchments 
by the river is the Virginia Brigade of Muhlenberg. Born at the Trappe close by 
and educated abroad, Muhlenberg was a clergyman in Virginia when the war came 
on, but he has doffed his parson's gown forever for the buff and blue of a 

28 




^™- SHESrS=~— "''■ 



29 





Brig. Gen. Jed Huntington 
Connecticut 



5rig. Gen. Lachlan McIntosh 
Georgia 





5rig. Gen. Charles Scott 
Virginia 



Brig. Gen. George Weedon 
Virginia 



30 





Brig. Gen. J. Peter G. Muhlenberg 
Virginia 



Brig. Gen. Enoch Poor 
New Hampshire 



brigadier. His stalwart form and swarthy face are already as familiar to the 
enemy as they are to his own men, for the Hessians are said to have cried, 'Hier 
Kommt teufel Pete !' as they saw him lead a charge at Brandywine. The last 
brigade is stationed on the river bank, where Varnum and his Rhode Islanders, in 
sympathy with young Laurens, of Carolina, are busy with a scheme to raise and 
enlist regiments of negro troops. These are the commanders of brigades." 

The several Major and Brigadier-Generals occupied houses within short 
distances of their respective commands. 

Inspector-General Baron Steuben and Brigadier-Generals Conway, Smallwood, 
Armstrong, Furman and McDougall were quartered in large huts on the Maurice 
Stevens property, just north of the field in which lies the grave of John Waterman. 

As a rule, it is said, the officers who became, with their staffs, enforced members 
of the country families proved agreeable and considerate guests. 

It is known that long after the close of the Valley Forge encampment letters 
of a most friendly character were exchanged by some of the Generals and 
the Valley Forge families. 




Headquarters of Major Gen. Lord Stirling 



31 



3. €^ 




Brig. Gen. Louis L. Du Portail 
Engineer of the Defenses 



32 




House of Joseph Walker 



Headquarters of Gen. Anthony Wayne 



CHAPTER VII 
ROUTINE OF THE CAMP 

See Notes upon pages 80, 8i and 85 

While the army was pushing the work of housing itself, the engineer corps 
was planning the earthworks which were to protect them. These defenses were 
doubtless worked slowly out of the frozen ground by details from the several 
brigades, and were not completed until spring. 

Upon March 27 following, the Commander-in-Chief refers to the unfinished 
condition of the "Interior Defenses," and again upon April 3 he complains of the 
poor work done upon the "new line defenses." 

Lieutenant-General Sir William Howe, in his defense of his conduct of the 
campaign in America, supplies indirect, but decisive, testimony regarding the 
wisdom of the selection of the Valley Forge heights for the American Army's 
hibernation and also the deterrent effect of the toilsome entrenchments created 
there, he says : 

"I did not attack the entrenched position at Valley Forge, a strong point, during 
the severe season, although everything was prepared with that intention, judging 
it imprudent until the season should afford a prospect of reaping the advantages 
that ought to have resulted in success in that measure ; but having good information 
in the spring that the enemy had strengthened his camp by additional works and 
being certain of moving him from thence when the campaign should open, I dropped 
all thoughts of attack." 

The structures which sheltered the army were built of logs and were fourteen 
by sixteen feet in dimensions. Wooden chimneys, lined with clay, were built against 
the rear sides. Twelve soldiers were housed in each hut. 

A quaint description of the scene during those early winter days at Valley 
Forge is that found in a letter written by Thomas Paine to Benjamin Franklin, 
who was in Paris. 

Washington offered a reward of twelve dollars in each regiment to the 
party doing the best and quickest work in building. 



33 




Old School House on Washington Lane 



Built in 1705 by Letitia, a daughter of William Penn. Tradition has it that the 
building was used as a hospital by the army surgeons. This interesting structure 
forms a convenient place of refuge for visitors in the vicinity in case of showers. 

It was only after painstaking research upon the part of ex-Governor Penny- 
packer and the Valley Forge Park Commissioners that the historic value of this 
quaint little relic of Colonial days was brought to light. It is located in the Valley 
to the south of Mount Joy, upon Washington Lane. Nearly opposite is the school 
house in which the children of the neighborhood are now instructed. The artillery 
was parked in this immediate vicinit}^ which was the centre of the cantonment. 




Interior of Old School House 
Arranged as a Typical Country School of Colonial Days 



34 




Reproduction of a Continental Army H.ut 

It is not to be supposed that having completed their log encampment, the army 
lapsed into idleness ; upon the contrary, there was much for the able-bodied to do 
in cutting wood for the fires, foraging for supplies (these scarce and already difficult 
to find), and, upon the part of the cavalry, a constant scouring of the country 
toward the city, with countless brushes with the outposts of the enemy. Drilling 
and the regulation routine were carried on daily. 

The Christmas holidays in this camp were anything but festive. Upon Christ- 
mas morning twelve men from each brigade were assembled upon the parade with 
ammunition and rations, who were dispatched with wagons to bring in supplies 
of flour, grain, cattle and pork. Unfortunately, shoals of loose joldiery had 
marauded the country ahead of them, abusing and robbing Tory and patriot alike. 
This license Washington took measures to stop. 

Just before the New Year a party of American soldiers at Wilmington 
captured a ship in the Delaware River coining from New York, which proved to 
contain much that was valuable to the patriot army, especially in clothing for officers. 

It would be interesting to trace the final disposition of these goods and 
discover what proportion the regimental officers finally got and to what extent 
the jobbing gentlemen around Congress, at York, were profited by the capture. 

At the end of the year many of the soldiers were still living in tents, but as 
fast as the huts were ready the tents were delivered to the Quartermasters to be 
cleaned and stored for use in the next campaign. 

The scarcity of side arms for the officers led to the order that those not having 
swords should cease carrying guns, which tended to distract their attention from 
their men, and to obtain half-pikes. The pikes, or Aspontons, were "to be six and 
a half feet in length, one and a half inch thick in the largest part, the iron part to 
be one foot long." 

There is evidence that some regiments fared much better than others and that 
the Pennsylvanians, especially many of the officers, were far from being destitute. 

Between December 22nd and January 28th Washington wrote five appeals to 
Congress for help. The last of this series of letters was a lengthy statement 
written for the use of a Congressional Committee then visiting the camp. This 



35 




Reproduction of an Army Hospital 



Committee was composed of Francis Dana, Joseph Reed, Nathaniel Folsom, John 
Harvie, Charles Carroll and Gouverneur Morris. The Committee remained here 
nearly three months, occupying a large house two miles west from the camp, 
known as "Moore Hall," which is still existent. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE CRY OF DISTRESS 

See Notes upon pages 78, 79, 80 and 85 

Whatever may have been the disposition of its individual members to afford 
effective relief to the suffering soldiers. Congress had not the initiative power to do 
more than make representations to the States in behalf of their respective brigades. 
As a matter of fact, the body at York was but the shadow of a government. 
Among the unwise measures to which its deliberations had given birth, that which 
detached the Commissary Department from the control of the commanding General 
was probably one of the most mischievous. The baleful mark of petty jobbery seems 
to stamp this procedure and the effect was seen in confusion and waste which 
were largely responsible for the misery of the Valley Forge winter. Fiske, the 
historian, cites testimony which alleges that hogsheads of shoes, stockings, hats 
and general clothing were left in the woods or by the roadside to waste 
because of a want of money and teams to get them into camp. So constant was 
the fear of Congress that the army would get beyond civil control, that John 
Adams proposed the annual election of generals in lieu of the issue of commissions. 
The spectre of Valley Forge did not weigh heavily upon the minds of the states- 
men at York. It was a gay winter in this temporary capital of the new nation. 

A member of the Congressional Commission reported with regard to the 
scenes in the camp, that "the men patiently yoke themselves together in little 

36 



carriages of their own making, using grapevines for ropes, or load their wood and 
provisions upon their backs." They seemed to the foreign officers to be devoid 
of all enthusiasm. 

Outposts and patrols were established across the country as far as Barren Hill, 
which is but ten miles from the centre of Philadelphia. 

Under the direction of General Sullivan a log bridge was constructed across 
the Schuylkill River at a point one mile below the mouth of the valley stream, 
its position now being marked by a marble stone inscribed with a record of the 
bloody footprints left by the shoeless soldiers who marched upon duty here. 

Long before the date of its migration from Camp Hill to Valley Forge the 
commands were very generally destitute of proper clothing, the uniforms and 
blankets being worn out with use. The resources of the country were inadequate to 
the problem, and as winter advanced the soldiers by hundreds covered their semi- 
nakedness and misery within their huts. In midwinter two thousand men were 
without shoes, sentries stood guard with feet in their hats. 

Before many weeks had passed a large proportion of the army had succumbed 
to cold and hunger combined, and those of the sufferers who had not perished were 
distributed in temporary hospitals through the country to the north and west. 

Upon February ist, 3,989 men were unfit for duty for want of clothes. 
Lieutenant John Marshall, afterward Chief Justice, wrote: "Although the total 
of the army exceeds 17,000 men, the present rank and file amounts to only 5012." 
On February 12, General Varnum wrote to General Greene and "in all human 
probability the army must dissolve. Many of the troops are destitute of meat and 
are several days in arrears. The horses are dying for want of forage. The 
country in vicinity of the camp is exhausted." 

On the i6th of February Washington wrote to Governor Clinton : 
"For some days past there has been little less than a famine in camp. A part of 
the army has been a week without any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four 
days. Naked and starved as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable 
patience and fidelity of the soldiery that they have not been, ere this, excited by 
their sufferings to general mutiny and desertion." 
Upon the next day John Laurens wrote : 

"The unfortunate soldiers were in want of everything; they had neither coats, 
hats, shirts nor shoes ; their feet and legs froze till they became black, and it was 
often necessary to amputate them. From want of money they could neither obtam 
provisions nor any means of transport." 

One month after arrival at Valley Forge, Washington issued a proclamation 
requiring all farmers within seventy miles from his quarters to thresh one-half of all 
their grain before the first of March, in order to make sure of a supply of both 
grain and straw. Many details of soldiers were sent out to do the threshing. 

Mrs. Washington arrived at Valley Forge upon February 10. She records the 
fact that the General's apartment is small and that he has had built a log structure 
in which to take their meals. 

Food supplies continued to be gathered from the unwilling farmers by force 
payment being made in certificates, for the redemption of which Congress had 
made no provisions, whereas, those who succeeded in getting their grain and other 
foods to the British Commissaries were paid a good price in gold. 

The annals of the country-side tend to show that by far the larger part 
of the farming people, nearly all of whom had relatives in the patriot service, 
made constant sacrifices in order to provide help to the American Army. Bad 
roads and snows had much to do with the scarcity of food. 

37 




38 






. '3^1'tf^ 



Inner Line Boulevard 

CHAPTER IX 
WASHINGTON'S OPTIMISM 

See Notes upon pages 80, 81 and 83 

In February a systematic market scheme was inaugurated, by which the 
Quartermasters were able to meet the farmers at designated places and buy such 
meagre supplies as they were able to bring. 

The constant anxiety with which historians doubtless properly credit the 
Commander-in-Chief does not find expression in his routine orders. Upon the 
contrary, his proclamations were usually optimistic beyond those of any of his 
Generals. 

Matters in camp were at their worst in the beginning of March, but Washington 
issued the following as a tonic to the Army : 

"Weedon Orderly Book, March ist, 1778. 

"Thank Heaven our Country abounds with privisions and with prudent manage- 
ment we need not apprehend want for any length of time. Defects in the Commis- 
saries Department, Contingencies of Weather and other Temporary Empedements 
have subjected and may again subject us to deficiency for a few days. But 
Soldiers, American Soldiers, will despise the meanness of Repining at such trifling 
strockes of Adversity, Trifling indeed when compared with the Transcendent prize 
which will undoubtedly crown their patience and perseverence." 

That the commanders of the opposing armies were constantly informed; of all 
that took place in the rival camps to a degree not possible in modern armies seems 



39 






Brig. Gen. William Smallwood 
Maryland 



Brig. Gen. Henry Knox 
Artillery Massachusetts 





Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan 
Virginia ^ 



Brig. Gen. James M. Varnum 
Rhode Island 



40 




Home of Capt. John Davis, one of Wayne's Officers, now Owned 
BY the a. J. Cassatt Estate 




Headquarters of Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan 



41 



certain. Washington was especially annoyed with the intercourse between the 
members of the sect of "Friends." 

Upon March 20th, Washintgon wrote to General Lacey : 

"Sunday next being the time on which the Quakers hold one of their 
general meetings, a number of that society will probably be attempting to go into 
Philadelphia. This is an intercourse that we should by all means endeavor to 
interrupt, as the plans settled at these meetings are of the most pernicious 
tendency. I would therefore have you dispose of your parties in such a manner as 
will most probably fall in with these people." 

At this time patriotism was at a low ebb throughout the country, and the 
belief grew that it was only a question of time when the little army must dissolve 
and all who had taken part in the Revolutionary movement suffer punishment 
at the hands of the victorious British. 



-^ 



^ acknowledge the UNITED STATES of A M E- 
RlCA, to be Free, ladependent and Sovereign States, and 
ck&larc that rhe people thereof owe no allegiance or obedi- 
ent' to George the Third, King of Great-Britain; and I re~ 
lioonce, refufe and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him ; 
aa4 I do ^^-^/^-v- -— — that I will to the utmofi: of 
my power, fupport, maintain and defend the faid Ufiitcd 
Staes, againft the faid King George the Third, his beir« and 
fttOceffors and- is is and their abettors, affiftant§ and adhgcnts, 
aiiA will fervc the faid United States in the office oi ■ -'M^ry^ 
.•^i^w.^/-*-!*.-^ - ——-"•- which I now hold with fidelity, 
^-'aceordiog to the beft of my iWll and underllanding. 



/^^ -est 




J 



From Orginal of Oath of Allegiance Signed by Major Gen. Arthur St. Clair 

The "Conway Cabal" 

In his own camp, for a considerable time, unknown to Washington, a 
conspiracy, which history has designated as the "Conway Cabal," was fomented 
for the purpose of displacing the General in command with Gates, the captor of 
Burgoyne. In this cabal were General Conway, a French-Irish "soldier of fortune," 
together with Mifflin, Wilkinson, James Lovell, Samuel Adams and Richard Henry 
Lee, each of whom had some personal grudge against Washington. The movement 
failed, as it deserved to do, and the Father of his country continued to hold the 
love and admiration of his ragged and faithful army. It was due to the discovery 
of this treachery that the famous Valley Forge oath was required of all officers. 

The oath was administered under the direction of General Wayne. 

During the winter large numbers of prisoners were gathered at the camp and 
frequent flags of truce went to Philadelphia, to obtain such supplies for them as 
the enemy might choose to send them. 

42 



CHAPTER X 
THE COMING OF BARON STEUBEN 

See Notes upon pages 82 and 83. 

Washington's marked preference for the foreign officers certainly bred heart- 
burnings among his native brigadiers and, in fact, with the officers generally. Many 
of the Frenchmen assumed airs of superiority over their American comrades of equal 
rank. They also underrated the silent, stern determination of the Americans to 
achieve independence. Washington's attitude of diplomatic good-will toward the 
foreigners was, however, to finally justify his patience and good sense. 




Major Gen. Frederick William von Steuben 

When matters were at their worst, there came to Washington, with an offer of 
his services and sword, a veteran General of Prussia, Frederick William Von 
Steuben. This officer was made Inspector-General, a place previously filled by the 
impotent Conway. 

General Steuben was the son of an officer in the German Armj^ He had served 
upon the staff of Frederick the Great, had been grand marshal of the Prince 

43 




Headquarters of Brig. Gen. J. Peter G. Muhlenberg 




Hedquarters of Major Gen. Thomas Mifflin 



44 




The Path to Fort Washington 



Hohen-Zolleni-Hechingen, and was a traveler of distinction. At Paris lie had 
met Franklin and Beaumarchais, and thus became interested in the American 
cause. He had traveled from Boston to York, Pa., in sleighs in company with his 
military secretary, going thence to Valley Forge. 

This was the beginning of salvation. Within a few days Washington had found 
the work for the old disciplinarian. He was annnounced to the army as its new 
drill master. 

Baron Steuben is said to have been astounded by the condition of the army 
as he found it. His French cook, whom he had brought across the seas, abandoned 
his job in disgust and fled to the fatherland. 

In addition to the universal epidemic of colds, smallpox ravaged the camp, and 
the men, borne down by the awful weight of their sufferings, could hardly be 
dragged to their daily work. Deserters and spies were executed as an example, 
and the generals were busy with threats and entreaties. 

The great men who had less than a brief year and a half before so resolutely 
afaxed their signatures to the defiant Declaration of Independence, were now largely 
replaced in Congress by those of smaller calibre and less exalted ideals. Regarding 
them, Livingston wrote in this severe strain : "I am so discouraged by our public 
mismanagement, and the additional load of business thrown upon me by the 
villainy of those who pursue nothing but accumulating fortunes to the ruin of 
their country that I almost sink under it." 

Clearly, Congress was afraid of Washington and the shadow of his dominant 
figure in the field. It was urged by some that there should be thirteen armies, 
each to be responsible to and look out for its own State. 

Both in the civil service and the army there were many who at this time, 
impressed by the seeming invincibility of the enemy, were chiefly occupied with 
the question of their personal safety and the protection of their property when the 
national project came to its impending end. In one of his letters to Congress from 
Valley Forge Washington called! attention to the fact that within a half year not 

45 




The Site of the Star Redoubt (Where Carriage Stands) 

less than three hundred officers had resigned and gone home. These men were, 
doubtless, largely influenced in their action by the manifest inability of Congress 
to extend that efficient support to the army necessary to its existence. There were 
men holding high commissions in the service who engaged in private negotiations 
with the Peace Commission which, coming from the King, expended several 
ineffectual months in their efforts to undermine the army and purchase the 
representatives of the people. 

Notwithstanding the suffering, there was much boisterous fun in the camps, 
for the American soldier must laugh sometimes, and there seems to have been the 
popular rage for the lottery, which was then a government institution. 

Immediately after Steuben began his task he formed one picked company, 
as already stated, and drilled them as a model for the others, laboring under the 
great disadvantage of a lack of English words, but the soldiers cheered his savage 
German oaths, and he soon became popular with the whole rank and file. By 
consent of Congress and General Washington he introduced a modified form of 
Prussian tactics, and before the end of the period in camp he had created an army 
of disciplined soldiers and schooled officers fit to command them. 

The order-loving spirit of Steuben began also to be reflected in the proclama- 
tions made from headquarters and by the Brigade Commanders. There was an 
effective policing of the Camps. 

The deaths among the common soldiers were so constant that there was little 
pretense of ceremony, and it may have been to modify the contrast presented by 
the pageantry of the funerals of officers with those of the rank and file that 
Washington issued an order upon this subject. 



46 




Pillars Marking Left of the Pennsylvania Brigades 
Upon Outer Line Boulevard 



Washington continued to anticipate, day by day, definite news of a favorable 
nature from France. Anticipating possible delay or failure in this quarter, Wash- 
ington had already been authorized by Congress to requisition Pennsylvania, 
Maryland and Virginia for 5,000 militia. 

The welcome accorded to General Charles Lee upon his return to the Army 
by exchange, April 21st, was most spectacular and flattering to him. The 
Commander-in-Chief made him his personal guest. He at once gave him the 
command of the right wing of the Army. Lee's subsequent conduct proved him 
unworthy of the plaudits of his fellow-soldiers or of the confidence of Washington. 

Regarding Lee's reception, Elias Boudinot wrote upon the same day : 

"All of the principal officers of the Army were drawn up in two lines, advanced 
of the camp about 2 miles toward the Enemy. Then the Troops with the inferior 
officers formed a line quite to head-quarters — all the Music of the Army attended. 
The General with a great number of principal Officers and their Suites rode about 
four miles on the road toward Philadelphia, and waited until Gen'l Lee appeared. 
General Washington dismounted and rec'd Gen'l Lee as if he had been his Brother. 
He passed thro' the Lines of Officers and the Army who paid him the highest 
military Honors to Headquarters, where Mrs. Washington was and here he was 
entertained with an elegant Dinner and the music playing the whole time." 

By Washington's orders, April 22nd was observed in the Valley Forge Camps 
as "a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer." 

The answer of Divine Providence was already upon the seas, and borne by 
hard-riding couriers from sea-cost to the- inland hills it came to the knowledge of 
Washington upon May day. One week later he issued the following general order, 
which was the beginning of the end in a war destined to continue nearly three 
years longer before its objects were effected: 

47 




Headquarters of Maj. Gen. Marquis de Lafayette 




Headquarters of Brig. Gen. Thos. Bradford 



CHAPTER XI 
THE FRENCH ALLIANCE 

See Note upon page 8i 

"It having pleased the Almighty Ruler of the universe to defend the course of 
the United States, and finally raise up a powerful friend among the princes of the 
earth, to establish our Liberty and Independence upon a lasting foundation, it 
becomes us to set apart a day for gratefully acknowledging the Divine goodness, 

and celebrating the important event which 
we owe to His Divine interposition. The 
several brigades are to assemble for this 
purpose at nine o'clock to-morrow morning, 
when their chaplains will communicate the 
information contained in the postcript of 
the Pennsylvania Gazette of the 2nd instant, 
and' offer up a thanksgiving and deliver a 
discourse suitable to the event. At half-past 
ten o'clock a cannon will be fired, which is to 
be the signal for the men to be under arms. 
The Brigade inspectors will then inspect their 
dress and arms, and form the battalions 
according to the instructions given them, and 
announce to the commanding officers of the 
brigade that the battalions are formed. 
The commanders of brigades will then 
appoint the field officers to the bat- 
talions , after which each battalion will be 
ordered to load and ground their arms. 
At half-past seven o'clock a second 
cannon will be fired as a signal for the 
march ; upon which the several brigades 
will begin their march by wheeling to the right by platoons, and proceed by the 
nearest way to the left of their ground by the new position. This will be pointed 
out by the Brigade-Inspectors. A third signal will then be given, on which there 
will be a discharge of thirteen cannon ; after which a running fire of the infantry 
will begin on the left of the second line and continue to the right. Upon a signal 
given, the whole army will huzza, 'Long Live the King of France.' The artillery 
then begins again and fires thirteen rounds ; this will be succeeded by a second 
general discharge of musketry, in a running fire, and huzza, 'Long Live the Friendly 
European Poivers.' The last discharge of thirteen pieces of artillery will be given, 
followed by a general running fire and huzza, 'The American States.' " 

The Commander-in-Chief and stafif were the guests of the New Jersey troops 
during the religious services of the day, after which the general officers of the 
command joined him at the Potts mansion, whereat was served one of those 
famous dinners for which Washington always manifested a fondness. 

The length and breadth of Washington's exuberance upon the arrival of the 
good news cannot be more effectively shown than in the fact that two soldiers 
awaiting execution in the camp were pardoned and restored to the ranks by him 
in testimony of his joy. When we consider how rarely the Commander-in-Chief 
modified or reversed the finding of his courts-martial and how vainly, at 
Newburgh, it was sought to save Andre, we may realize the meaning of this gift 
of life to men who, perhaps, did not deserve it. 




Benjamin Franklin 

To whose diplomatic skill was largel}' due the 

sending of French assistance to America 



49 



Official confirmation of the great fact that Benjamin Franklin and his associate 
Commissioners had succeeded in their mission to the French Court had arrived upon 
April 13th, when the French frigate La Sensible sailed into Falmouth (now 
Portland) Harbor, bringing, as bearer of dispatches, Simeon Deane, brother of 
Commissioner Silas Deane. The news reached Congress at York upon May 2d. 

One of the most difficult problems in the administration of this far scattered 
camp was that of the control of liquor. Most of the courts-martial had their 
origin in quarrels caused by drunkenness. The sutlers were held accountable, and 
all taverns, except a few under special license, within a wide territory around the 




Major Gen. Nathaniel Greene 

camp, were prohibited from selling anything drinkable. Occasionally, as upon 
January i, 1778, the Commander-in-Chief ordered grog for the whole army. Prices 
for liquor sold in the camp were determined by Boards of Officers. 

Spring found the camps still destitute of blankets and clothing, those best 
provided having come hfther from the Northern Army. There were sick in 
every hut, and a good bedding of straw was the best that most of the men could 
hope for. As the season advanced the mud was removed from between the 

50 



logs to afford ventilation, and details were paraded for bathing in Valley Stream 
and the river. One week before the camp was abandoned a portion of the army 
resumed its tents. 

The men were drilled hard and often under the watchful eye of Steuben. 

It is said of the old martinet that he was up at three o'clock, took a smoke, 
had his coffee and, before daylight, was about the camp watching the process of 
starting the day's routine according to every proper formality, and short-comings 
were not tolerated in either officer or man. 




Major Gen. Paul J. G. DeM. Lafayette 

Washington's spies warned him soon after the announcement of the French 
Alliance that there were evidences of activities upon the part of the enemy 
in the city. 

Upon May 8th, at a council of war held at Valley Forge, the Commander-in- 
Chief stated that upon that date the Continental force numbered iS,ooo, not including 
horse and artillery, and that of this number ii,8oo were at Valley Forge, the 
remainder being at Wilmington and on the North River. 



SI 




Washington Inn, A Portion of which was used as an Army Bakery, Originally 
THE Home of Col. Wm. Dewees. 




Headquarters of Brig. Gen. Jed Huntington 



52 



CHAPTER XII 
THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE 

See Notes upon pages 83 and 84 

Eight days after the Alliance celebration the General issued an order, which 
began the active campaign of the year 1778. Major-General Lafayette, a youth of 
but twenty years, was placed in command of a picked force of 2,500 men, infantry, 
artillery and horse, to proceed in the direction of Philadelphia and observe 
the enemy. 

This young French nobleman had proven the sincerity of his admiration of 
America and advocacy of the struggle, by leaving behind him his young wife, a 
daughter of the Duke de Noailles, and coming to America at the head of a 
party of other foreigners, including Baron de Kalb and eleven other French, 
German and Polish officers. The leaky ship in which they ventured narrowly 
escaped wreck upon the South Carolina Coast. 

After a long journey through the Southern forests to Philadelphia, Lafayette 
and his associates were met with a cold rebuff from a consequential chairman of 
the Committee of Congress on Foreign Affairs (Lovell). Lafayette appealed directly 
to Washington, and upon July 31, i777. he was appointed by Congress a Major- 
General. Like Washington, he served without pay. 

Lafayette, while acting upon Washington's staff, was wounded at Brandywine. 
Later in the year, at White Marsh, he was given a command of a division whose 
Commander, General Adam Stephen, had been dismissed from the Army. 

It must have been inspiring to those who witnessed the "forward march" of 
the resolute column, which the dashing boy commander led down from the hills 
of Valley Forge. Barren Hill was reached upon the i8th of May. 

This expedition narrowly escaped capture upon the morning of the 20th, by a 
large force of British which approached from two directions. Lafayette succeeded, 
by almost a miracle, in regaining the west shore of the Schuylkill River, the army 
at Valley Forge pouring down tumultuously to help him. 

The column of 5,000 men under General Grant having marched all night from 
Philadelphia, had gained the rear of Lafayette's camp undiscovered at daybreak. 
When first observed they were ranged along the Matson's Ford road, the head 
of the column at the junction with the Ridge Road. The distance from this 
point to the ford is two miles. It is an equal distance southward to Barren Hill. 
A body of light cavalry discovered the Americans hastening in disorder across the 
fields and through the woods toward the ford, which was by this rough "short cut" 
three miles from Barren Hill. The British commander had only to advance 
his force down the hill in the direct course of his march to certainly intercept 
and capture the flying Americans, but once more Fate intervened to assist the 
cause of Freedom in the person of a thick-headed British general, who insisted upon 
guiding his sleepy and tired soldiers down the Ridge Road toward the Church 
at Barren Hill. 

Probably upon no event during the course of the war did the future history 
of America depend more truly than upon the decision made, that summer morning, 
at Harmonville crossroads, and seldom in the history of warfare has a commander 
been blessed with such unhoped-for "good luck" as attended Lafayette that same 
morning. 

Lieutenant John Marshall wrote from Valley Forge of the hard ride of 
Washington and a large party of officers to a point commanding a view, several 
miles distant, of the retreat of Lafayette's column at sunrise. 

53 




Brig. Gen. John Glover 
Massachusetts 



Major Gen. Lord Stirling 

(William Alexander) 

New Jersey 





Lieut. John Trumbull 

Soldier and Artist 

Pennsylvania 



Major Gen. Arthur St. Clair 
Pennsylvania 



54 




Bridge Over the Valley Stream 

Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, in command of the Queen's Rangers, led the 
column of General Grant which was sent out from Philadelphia to cut off the 
troops of Lafayette, and explains the failure to do so to a halt made due to an 
uncertainty regarding the proper road. 

Among the soldiery sent to the Valley Forge Camp from the Northern Army 
were a considerable party of Oneida Indians. These men were employed largely as 
scouts. The Oneidas were the only "Nation" of the famed Iroquois Confederation 
which took sides with the Colonists, the Five "Nations" to the westward, in New 
York State, having been under the influence of Butler and other Tories, declared 
for the British. 

In the ceaseless attrition of outposts and raiding parties these aborigines were 
doubtless the objects of much wholesome dread upon the part of the predatory 
enemy. 

General Greene had been appointed Quartermaster-General in March, much to 
the advantage of the service. 

With the preparations for the summer large quantities of new equipment were 
received and distributed. The army still remained a picturesque thing of patches, 
but there was an end to inefficiency in the commissary service. 

Washington's numerous spies in Philadelphia confirmed his own intuitions that 
the enemy was contemplating a move from a position rapidly becoming untenable. 

In the patriot camp the warm weather restored the spirits and energies of the 
soldiers who were constantly drilled, inspected and marched up and down the hills 
to fit them for battle or the pursuit of the enemy, as the case might require. 



55 




Headquarters of Brig. Gen. John Knox 




Headquarters of Major Gen. Baron de Kalb 



56 




Grave of an Unknown Soldier 

CHAPTER XIII 

DEPARTURE OF THE ARMY FROM VALLEY FORGE 

See Notes upon pages 85 and 86 

The movement of the army from Valley Forge began upon June i8th, 
immediately upon the receipt of news brought by George Roberts that Clinton's 
forces were leaving Philadelphia, 18,000 strong. Maxwell's brigade was rushed 
across the country into New Jersey to burn bridges ahead of the slow moving 
column of the enemy, hampered as it was with many miles of wagons contaming 
all kinds of plunder and a large number of Tory followers. The army left Valley 
Forge with such haste that half-baked bread was left in the ovens and the country 
people found many forgotten implements in the huts. 

On the 2ist the main army crossed 
the Delaware River at Coryell's Ferry, 
and a week later came upon the flanks 
of the enemy. Then was fought the Battle 
of Monmouth. 

We may well imagine the fierce joy 
with which the Americans, now for the 
first time the pursuers, and with the 
memories of Paoli and the sufferings of 
Valley Forge fresh within them, threw 
themselves upon the great red serpent of 
the enemy now crawling painfully across 
the hot sands of New Jersey toward the 
sea and safety. 

It is said that about three thousand 
Tories left Philadelphia upon the British 
fleet. Clinton's column was heavily im- 
peded by not only baggage, but by additional 
Tory families and their possessions. 
Extending along the Jersey roads for 
Lieut. Coi.. Alexander Hamilton many miles it offered an easy mark for the 




57 




■'ERT'^' i;iF-<w, ^ 



Memorial to the Troops of Massachusetts 
Dedicated June 19TH, 1911 

Continentals. General Charles Lee, whose strange behavior at Monmouth brought 
upon him the wrath of Washington and deprived the patriots of a decisive victory, 
was proven, nearly eighty years after the event, to have been a traitor and a tool 
of the enemy. 

CHAPTER XIV 

VALLEY FORGE IN AFTER YEARS 

See Notes upon page 87 

The army turned its back upon a ruined region. Fences, forests, farm 
animals, domestic utensils, all had disappeared. In payment for their supplies 
and toil the residents held only wads of dirty Continental script, which was 
afterward repudiated by the government without a shadow of justice. Where the 
blare of the trumpet or the roll of the funeral drums had echoed, where fires 
had glowed along the hills at night, silence and desolation reigned. It was only 
after a generation that the people roundabout fully recovered from the iron 
heel of war. 

About 1794 the Headquarters Mansion was sold by Isaac Potts to Jacob Paul 
of Germantown, whose family lived there until 1826. It was then bought by a 




War and Peace 



58 




co-operative community from Scotland, 
upon the failure of which James Jones, 
one of its members, acquired it and occu- 
pied the place until 1850 or later. (Wood- 
man's History of Valley Forge.) 

Washington visited the old camp 
ground in 1787, and it is stated by Wood- 
man, in his history, that in the summer of 
1796 he again came, one day, accompanied 
only by a negro servant and walked over 
the hills of Valley Forge, conversing with 
persons he met, one of whom was the 
historian's father. Doubtless many others 
of those who dwelt here in the winter of 
our darkest days as a young nation, also 
revisited the spot with emotions of both 
sadness and triumph as long as veterans 
of the Revolution continued to live, but in 
course of time a busy nation all but forgot 
Valley Forge and its heroic story. 

A Soldier's Bake Oven 

The Tribute of a British Officer 

Eleven years after the close of the war, Stedman, the English historian of 
the struggle, himself a soldier under Howe, Clinton and Cornwallis, had the 
courage to conclude his two volumes (quoted upon other pages of this 
book) with the following impartial summary. 

"While the natural strength and spirit of Great Britain were embarrassed 
and encumbered with the disadvantages and errors now enumerated, the 
Americans, in spite of a thousand difficulties and wants, by the energy of liberty, 
the contrivance of necessity, and the great advantages arising from the 
possession of the country, ultimately attained their object. The Americans indeed 
were not fired with that enthusiastic ardour which nations of a warmer tempera- 
ment, in all ages, have been wont to display in the cause of freedom. But they 
were guided by wise councils, they were steady and persevering, and, on all 
great occasions, not a little animated by the courage of General Washington, 
who has been proverbially called a Fabius, but in whose character courage, in fact, 
was a feature still more predominant than prudence. The American generals, 
having the bulk of the people on their side, were made acquainted with every 
movement of the British army and enabled, for the most part, to penetrate their 
designs: To obtain intelligence, on which so much depends, was to the British 
commanders a matter of proportionable difficulty. The Americans had neither 
money nor credit: But they learned to stand in need only of a few things; to be 
contented with the small allowance that nature requires: to suffer as well as to 
act. Their councils, animated by liberty, under the most distressing circum- 
stances, took a grand and high-spirited course, and they were finally triumphant. 

"The Revolution in America, though predicted by philosophy, was generally 
considered as a remote contingency, if not a thing wholly ideal and visionary. 
Its immediate causes were altogether unforeseen and improbable. It came as a 
surprise upon the world: and men were obliged to conclude, either that the 
force of Great Britain was ill-directed, or that no invading army, in the present 
enlightened period, can be successful where the people are tolerably united." 



59 



Soldiers Supplied by the Several States 

According to a Report of the Secretary of War, General Knox, in 1790, 
the troops of the American Army engaged in the War of the Revolution were 
furnished by the States as follows: 

Continentals Militia Continentals Militia 

New Hampshire 12,496 3,700 Maryland 13,832 3,929 

Massachusetts -67,907 I5,i45 Virginia 26,672 4,429 

Rhode Island 5,9o8 4,284 N. Carolina 7,263 3,975 

Connecticut 32,039 7,238 S. Carolina 6,660 

New York 17,781 3,866 Georgia 2,679 

New Jersey 10,727 4-448 

Pennsylvania 25,608 7-357 

Delaware 2,387 0,376 Totals ...231,929 58,747 

In addition to these officially accounted for troops, a conjectural force of 
105,580 men has a place upon the report, composed of more or less mythical 
levies from the various States and of the many who served temporarily. These 
troops are omitted from Nile's Register. 

It will be seen that of the total number of soldiers, as accounted for, who 
served at some time during the war, but fave per cent, approximately were 
encamped at Valley Forge. 

The war in America cost the United States, including foreign debt of 
$7,885,085, a total of about $42,000,000 and a loss in lives computed at 100,000 
persons. The cost to Great Britain was £152,115,000, or about $750,000,000 and 
the lives of 43,633 soldiers and sailors. 

Besides a mighty navy. Great Britain had a force in America amounting, 
nearly, to 42,000 men, besides from 25,000 to 30,000 loyalists who were actually 
enlisted in the several provincial corps raised during the war. 

Although it is customary in the British service to inscribe battles fought 
by the various regiments upon their standards, the military authorities were so 
humiliated by the result of their long struggle with the Americans that the 
flags of their troops have never borne the names of any Revolutionary battles. 

The Hessian Mercenaries 

The custom of selling their soldiery to other countries was no new thing 
with the petty princes of Germany at the time when the American Revolution 
loomed in the West, and Great Britain had frequently been a customer at the 
military bargain-counter of the Hesses. Indeed, so active, at times, had been 
the competition for the unhappy German regiments that more than once they 
had been arrayed in battle against each other. The greater statesmen of the 
Continent condemned this traffic in flesh and blood, and Schiller most eloquently 
protested against it in a tragedy, "Cahale und Liebe." The scenes at the departure 
of the troops from their native land and their families are described as most 
terrible and pitiful. Six provinces furnished these hirelings, Hesse Cassel 
supplying about one-half of the whole. From this principality Great Britain 
bought the services of fifteen regiments of infantry, four battalions of grenadiers, 
one corps of chasseurs and three corps of artillery. In all the Hessian contin- 
gent numbered 29,867 men. Of these about 1200 were killed in battle, 6354 died 
of diseases and accident, 5000 deserted and 17,313 eventually returned to Europe. 

The Hessian regiments under Lord Howe were from Hesse Cassel. Those 
who were captured at Saratoga were marched in the autumn of 1777 across the 
State of Massachusetts to Boston. Intelligent writers among them have 

60 




Type of British Soldiery of Gen. Howe's Army in Philadelphia, 1777 78 

1. Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (Paoli Massacre) 4- Forty-second Highlanders, Black Watch (Paoli Massacre) 

2. Twenty-second Foot 5- Grenadier 

3. Seventeenth Light Dragoons 6- Sergeant, Cold Stream Guards 

7. Twentieth Foot 



61 



recorded that they were much impressed with the dignity and soldierly spirit 
of their captors who, although without uniforms and many of them in rags, 
stood like statues when the prisoners were m.arched between the lines. They 
also admired the sturdy country people who thronged along the route to see 
them. The plucky Baroness Riedesel, with her children, accompanied her hus- 
band, the Hessian commander, and left a sprightly record of her experiences. 

These prisoners were barracked a year at Cambridge, and in November, 
1778, were marched to Charlottesville, Va., where many of them were detained 
until the end of the war. While m New England they were humanely allowed 
to hire out to the farmers; the Baroness even gave a fine ball (Jun 3d) to the 
British and Hessian officers, all singing "God save the King!" with much defiant 
gusto. 

The Germans also worked upon the Virginia farms and at their trades, those 
who remained in the country generally marrying and leaving many thrifty 
descendants. One of the regiments which returned to the Fatherland marched 
into its native city behind a drum corps of Southern negroes, a souvenir of 
their long captivity. 



Thie Loyalists and What Became of Them 

In addition to the Tory soldiery gathered under Lord Dunmore, Governor 
Martin, of North Carolina, and Henry Ferguson, of South Carolina, in the South, 
and with Col. Butler in Pennsylvania, the following enlisted Loyalists are 
enumerated in "Sabine's American Loyalists" (Boston, 1847): 

The King's Rangers; the Royal Fensible Americans; the King's American 
Regiment; the New York Volunteers; the Maryland Loyalists; De Lancey's 
Battalions (3); the Second American Regiment; the King's Rangers, Carolina; 
the South Carolina Royalists; the North Carolina Highland Regiment; the King's 
American Dragoons; the Loyal American Regiment; the American Legion; the 
New Jersey Volunteers (3); the British Legion; the Loyal Foresters; the Orange 
Rangers; the Pennsylvania Loyalists; the Guides and Pioneers; the North 
Carolina Volunteers; the Georgia Loyalists; the West Chester Volunteers; the 
Newport Associates; the Loyal New Englanders; the Associated Loyalists; the 
Wentworth Volunteers; and Col. Archibald Hamilton's Loyal Militia. Total, 
2^ battalions. 

The members of these organizations, as well as many who were classed 
only as passive loyalists, ffed the country when the British cause failed, some 
going to Jamaica, others to England, but the larger part to New Brunswick and 
Nova Scotia. It is said that, in a single year the population of Halifax was 
doubled by these refugees. Thousands fled to the north shores of the great 
lakes, where they formed the "United Empire of Loyalists," and became pioneers 
of the Canadian province of Ontario. Those who went to London were 
provided for in either the army establishment, in small civil offices or were, in 
various ways, helped along, but among them, wherever they were, there was 
much suffering and bitterness of mind. Some eventually came back to the 
States and secured the return of at least a part of the property they had lost. 
Within ten years after the war had closed the British Government had pensioned 
most of the clamorous loyalist soldiers and had disbursed in Canada some 
£3,292,455 as compensation for property losses by reason of their banishment 
from their old homes, as^well as granting to these settlers large tracts of land, 
with farming implements and other necessities. 

62 




Public Observatory upon Mount Joy 



^Z 



NOTES AND CITATIONS 

The British Army at Valley Forge 

Sept i8 1777 

A man sent out discovered upwards of 3800 Barrels of Flour, Soap and 
Candles, 25 Barrels of Horse Shoes, several thousands of tomahaw^ks and 
Kettles, and Intrenching Tools and 20 Hogsheads of Resin in a Barn 3 miles 
from here at the Valley Forge. 

Sept. 20th 1777. Weather extremely fine. At 2 o'clock in the morning the 
guards moved and posted themselves with the Light Infantry at the Valley 
Forge. Waggons employed in carrying ofi from the magazine there the rebel 
stores. This morning at 5 the rebel centries fired on the guards who took the 
whole. They slightly wounded one of our officers. — Journal of Capt. John 
Montressor, Chief Engineer British Army. 

(This was the night of the Paoli massacre.) 

Upon September 21st, 1777, 14,000 British troops were camped along the 
road from Fountain Inn to the Fatland ford. The soldiers plundered all the 
houses and barns in the vicinity. 

Journal of Capt. John Montressor, Chief Engineer British Army. 

Sept 2ist 1777 

At 5 this morning the Army moved, marched to the Valley Forge and 2 miles 
more to Moor Hall making 5 miles and there camped. We found the houses 
full of military stores. 

"The elegant seat of the late William Moore, Esq., near 600 acres, a very 
valuable grist mill; the River Schuylkill which bounds the lands for some 
distance affords a great shad fishery duritig the season."- — Rental adver., 1783. 

Among the active troops in the British service in front of Philadelphia, the 
Queen's Rangers, a regiment composed of loyalists, was sometimes troublesome. 
They were commanded by Lieut. Col. J. G. Simcoe, an English officer of enter- 
prise, whose story of the achievements of his command in America was published 
for the edification of his friends in England and reprinted in 1844. The Rangers 
were among the soldiery upon this march and they probably burned the Valley 
Forge mills, as Simcoe claims to have occupied the Potts residence before 
Washington selected it as his headquarters. 

Bread for the Army 

I'he army bakers occupied Col. Dewees' house and built their ovens in the 
basement. This structure forms a part of the existing Washington Inn. Many 
of the country people baked bread for the camp upon the basis of a pound of 
bread for a pound of flour. 

The Ravage of the Forge 

Wayne Orderly book, April 29th, 1778. 

"Complaint having been made by Mr. Dewees, the proprietor of the Valley 
Forge that the Soldiers pull down the houses and break up the Fore Bay of 
which is called the Valley Forge the Commander-in-Chief strictly forbids all 
Persons from Further Damages to the said Buildings and Works, which he 
hopes will be particularly attended to especially when they consider the great 
loss that Mr. Dewees has already suffered by the great Waste which our Army 
has been under the Necessity of Committing upon the Wood and other 
improvements." 

Where Southern Soldiers Rest 

It is said that upon the north side of "rear-line hill," which must have been 
in the vicinity of Mcintosh's command, a large number of skeletons of soldiers 
were exposed to view by the washing away of the ground years after the camp 
was abandoned, and it is also affirmed that those buried there were Southern 
soldiers. 

The Affair of Paoli 

The massacre of Paoli was perpetrated by a column under General Grey, 
composed of the First Light Infantry, the Forty-second Highlanders (Black 
Watch) and the Forty-fourth Regiment. From the bloody work done by the 

64 



Light Infantry they were known as "The Surprisers," and were singled out for 
vengeance by Wayne's troops, who sent word to them that they would give 
them no quarter in battle. Upon this the Light Infantry dyed the feathers in 
their hats red that they might protect the other troops from their especial 
enemies. The regiment still wears this red plume as a vested right. 

Equally as it is the province of history to preserve the names of heroes it 
should be a duty to save from oblivion for the detestation of ages to 
follow the memory of such monsters as Grey, the British General by whose 
orders all prisoners were murdered at Paoli and a year later near Hackensack, 
N. J. 

One of Wayne's companies of Light Infantry raised in Philadelphia was 
known as the "Red Feathers" and as such fought at Princeton in January 1777. 

In the Family- 
Mr. George Alfred Townsend has written to the author calling attention to 
the not widely known tradition in England that the Howe's were "left-handed" 
cousins of George III. 

Industries at Valley Forge, Past and Present 

Upon March 24th, 1768, John Potts and Ruth, his wife, conveyed to John 
Potts, Jr., his heirs and assigns "all of the Iron forge called and known by the 
name of "Mount Joy Forge,'' a saw mill and grist mill and three tracts of land 
thereunto belonging, one of them, whereon the said Forge and mills stand 
situated in Upper Merion township." Upon May loth, 1768, this property was 
deeded to Joseph Potts and upon Sept. 30, 1773, it was bought by Wm. Dewees, Jr. 

Early iron making industries in this part of the country were Warwick 
furnace, 1737, Birdsboro furnace, 1740, Hopewell furnace on French Creek, 1759, 
Roxborough (afterward Berkshire) furnace, 1763, Oley furnace, 1770 and Green 
Tree furnace 1770. 

The iron used at the Valley Forge came from the Warwick furnace. 

Mr. Joseph E. Thropp, of West Conshohocken, is authority for the state- 
ment that one of the early and successful attempts in this country in producing 
cast steel was made in 1818, at the furnace and rolling mill which then stood 
upon the Chester County side of the stream, by James Wood, John Rogers 
and Isaac Medley. This plant was upon or near the site of the army forges 
used during the encampment. 

From researches by Joseph E. Thropp, Esq. of West Conshohocken, printed 
in "Iron Making in Pennsylvania" by William Jasper Nicolls it appears that 
a second forge was built soon after the Revolution upon the site of the present 
mill which was conducted, in 1786, by Isaac Potts & Co. This second forge 
was in ruins in 1816. Joshua Malin, the owner had commenced the erection of 
the present mill buildings, but having failed the property was taken over by 
John Rogers, who had been a partner and with James Wood and Isaac 
Smedley completed the mill which is a part of the large structure now used as a 
hosiery mill. 

The Washington Memorial Chapel 

The Washington Memorial Chapel, which occupies an elevated site upon the 
river or Port Kennedy road, is much visited by strangers. It is upon private 
ground one-half mile east of Valley Forge Reservation. It was built under the 
authority of the Norristown Convocation, Prot. Episcopal Church and is both 
a place of worship and a patriotic museum. It was established mainly through 
the efforts of Rev. W. Herbert Burk. 

After Many Years 

The first recorded suggestion looking toward the preservation of the Valley 
Forge encampment ground by the public authorities was made at the semi- 
centennial celebration held here in the summer of 1828. 

The Valley Forge Headquarters' building was dedicated by the Centennial 
Association of Valley Forge, upon June 19th, 1879. 

65 



The Road Up the Valley 

The pleasant road beside the valley stream did not exist prior to 1830, 
about which year it was constructed by Colonel George W. Holstein, Supervisor 
of Upper Merion. The spring along this road was probably unknown at the 
time of the encampment. 

John Waterman's Death 

Camp Valley Forge, Apl 24th 1778 
Dear Sir 

Captain Tew and myself arrived safe to post the 226. inst., found the encamp- 
ment in perfect tranquility and the enemy peacable in their quarters. Am sorry 
to inform you that yesterday died of a short illness that worthy gentleman John 
Waterman Esqr. Commissary of our brigade. Humble servant 

(Rhode Island Continental Line) William Allen. 

It is an interesting fact that four officers in the army bore the name of 
John Waterman; all were from New England. 

Losses at Germanto^vn 

Of the 5,763 American soldiers reported present at the Battle of German- 
town about 1000 were killed wounded or captured. Among those killed upon 
the British side was Gen. Agnew whose body is interred in the old De Benne- 
ville cemetery upon York Road. 

A Relic 

During the bombardment of the river defenses below Philadelphia, the 
British ships Merlin and Augusta were set on fire and exploded. The remnants 
of the latter's hull may still be seen at Gloucester, N. J. 

Fort Mercer 

Recently a costly monument has been erected at Fort Mercer replacing a 
smaller one. This is now a National Park and the historic Whitall house is open 
as a public museum. 

Prominent Philadelphia Loyalists 

The three sons of Chief Justice Allen, of Philadelphia, members of a wealthy 
and prominent family, were originally inclined to the patriot side. In 1774 
Andrew Allen was First Lieutenant in the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, 
from which he resigned. William was a Lieut. Colonel in a Pennsylvania 
Regiment on duty in the North under St. Clair. Both brothers sought the 
protection of Howe, and the third was placed under surveillance by the American 
authorities. William recruited a Loyalist regiment. James Allen died Sept. 19th, 
1778. Enoch Story was appointed by Howe Inspector of Prohibited goods, 
but in the course of the year departed for England. 

Joseph Galloway, a wealthy lawyer, became general superintendent in city 
affairs during the stay of the enemy, with whom he departed, and his estate being 
confiscated he repaired to London and occupied himself by writing circulars 
abusing Howe for losing the country to the crown. 

Probably through the intervention of his friend Franklin, part of the estate, 
belonging to his wife, was afterward restored. 

The British Troops in Philadelphia 

Much of the artillery was parked in the State House (Independence) Square. 

Some of the grenadiers occupied the State House. 

The Hessians and ijart of the grenadiers were located on Callowhill and 
Noble Streets between 4th and 5th Streets. Other troops along north side of 
Callowhill Street as far as the present Broad Street. Bight Regiments were 
behind the entrenchment between Bush Hill and Fairmount. The Yagers were 

66 




Headquarters of Lord Cornwallis near Valley Forge, in September, 1777 
While the British army was in occupation of this section before advancing to Philadelphia. 




Headquarters of Brig. Gen. James M. Varnum 
This property is now owned by Mr. Buck Taylor, famous as a typical " cowboy, 
was a revolutionary hospital. 



The barn 



(i7 



at 22d Street and Pennsylvania Ave, the dragoons had three foot regiments 
between Vine and Race Streets west of 8th Street. 

General Howe was first quartered at the residence of General Cadwallader, 
Second Street, below Spruce, and later he occupied the house on High Street, 
east of Sixth, which was years afterward the dwelling of President Washington. 

Philadelphia's War-Time Population 

May 27th 1778. The number of souls in Philadelphia comprehending the 
Army, seamen and Inhabitants consist of 60,000 

Journal of Capt. John Montressor, Chief Engineer British Army. 

Recruiting the Tories 

Philadelphia Nov. 15th 1777 

"Three Regts of Provincials raising. Aliens, Chalmers and Cliftons, the latter 
Roman Catholics." 

Journal of Capt. John Montressor, Chief Engineer British Army. 

May 7th 1778 

Allen's and Clifton's Regts were sent to Gloucester, the 3d Provincial Regt, 
Chalmer's, going into camp near the Schuylkill river below the upper ferry. 

Blacklisted in 1781 

A "Black List" was published in 1802 containing the names of 486 tories 
who were attainted of High Treason in the State of Pennsylvania, being men 
who adhered to the Kmg after July 4th, 1776, and most of whom were pronounced 
by the Supreme Court of the State, in 1781, to be aliens and devoid of civic rights. 

Country Seats Destroyed 

The British burned, upon November 22d, 1777, all of the buildings in front 
of their line of defense, some twenty-seven houses, several of them being fine 
country residences. 

Snug, Comfortable and Confident 

"The lines at the North End of the City are nearly compleat, they are 
ditched and facin'd from Delaware to Schuylkill, between each Redoubt. — They 
have pulled down Peal hall and all the rest of the houses facing their Redoubts. 
They have ordered all the wood within their lines to be cutt for the use of the 
Army, they are takeing up houses & when the empty ones are full they quarter 
the rest on the Inhabitants- — The army are very healthy & very saucy, say they 
have men enough to defend their Lines whilst Cornwallis clears the Country." 
From secret intelligence sent from Philadelphia, Nov. 21, 1777. 

Analysis by an Unappreciative Hessian 

" — just as Congress consists of Scoundrels so the Army consists of people, 
warmed up in part by the war party, also their only support is in the war, and 
who are unwilling to exchange sword for last and needle, or who may fear that 
their former masters, whose serfs they are, would harness them to the yoke, as 
soon as they surrendered their Captain and Subaltern patents. This is the army 
proper of the enemy, numbering about 12,000 men. The remainder substitutes 
and militia of whom ten or twenty thousand are mobile at times, these fight only 
for the Province in which they dwell and have been unable to resolve joining 
the Army and going into another province.* * * This is about a fair picture of 
the present situation: The enemy is encamped in huts at Wilmington and Valley 
Forge, and Washington and Stirling have wagered as to who had the best huts 
erected. Last year we lay in them and our army x. y. z. strong, lies in Phila- 
delphia which is fortified by eleven redoubts and one outpost. We are supplied 
with all that is necessary and superfluous. Assemblies, Concerts, Comedies, 
clubs and the like make us forget there is any war, save that it is a capital joke" 

From the letter book of Capt. Johann Heinrichs, Hessian Yager Corps, Jan. 
i8th 1778. 

68 




69 



Again the Hessian, Somewhat Shaken 

"Here in Philadelphia there are about one thousand royally inclined families 
who arc willing to leave hearth and home and with their chattels go with the 
army. Hence this gives rise to the rumor that we are going to leave 
Philadelphia altogether." 

Letter book of Capt. Johann Heinrichs, Hessian Yager Corps, Philadelphia, 
June 5th, 1778. 

The Two Howes on Sea and Land 

Lord Howe's indecision of character seems well illustrated by the fact that 
in 1777, he embarked the force, destined for Philadelphia, consisting of 36 British 
and Hessian battalions, the Queen's Rangers and a Regiment ot Light Horse, 
upon transports at New York, together with horses and baggage. Forty days of 
midsummer elapsed before they were finally landed at Elk River, Maryland. 

Sir William Howe had originally demanded from the home government, m 
a letter of November 26th, 1775, 19,000 men, estimating that with these he could 
succeed against the colonials, but the war office had sent him, in all, 31,476 
soldiers, in addition to which, upon Nov. 30th 1776 and Jan. 20th 1777 he had 
called for 15,000 and 20,000 more men respectively, or a total proposed force 
less losses of over 65,000, at a time when the Continental line did not exceed 
8000 rank and file. In response to Howe's calls the government did increase 
his army to 40,000 men. 

The Pinch of War 

Several members of the Society of Friends resident in Philadelphia, addressed 
an appeal for assistance during the British occupation, to Friends in Ireland. 
They stated that independently of the military the city at that time contained 
20,000 people. 

Camp-Following Traders 

Among those who came upon the transports were a shoal of "merchants," 
English and Scotch tories, who seized upon the best of the vacant stores and 
presently filled the newspapers with advertisements of their wares. These new- 
comers dealt for gold only. The number of these worthies is stated by 
Christopher Marshall in his diary for February 28th, 1778, as being a hundred 
and twenty-one. 

Pessimism of Captain Montressor 

While the Americans hovered in doubt and dread of the coming winter 
around Camp Hill, even the confident and comfortable enemy in the city had 
its blue days. This fact is reflected by Captain Montressor's entry of November 
1st, 1777, inspired probably by a flag through the rebel lines advising the British 
commander of the disaster to Burgoyne: "We are just now an army without 
provision, a Rum artillery for besieging, scarcely any ammunition, no clothing, 
nor any money. Somewhat dejected by Burgoyne's capitulation and not elated 
with our late manoevres as Donop's repulse and Augusta and Merlin being burnt 
and to compleat all being Blockaded" 

Stedman's History of the American War, London, 1794. 

Britain's Forces 

Howe's whole command in America is said to be — 

i6th & 17th Regts of Light Dragoons, i Brigade of Guards, 5 Companies 
of Artillerv, 9 Regiments of Foot, 2 Battalions of Marines — British. 

2 Conipanies of Chasseurs, 18 Regts of Foot, i Regt Artillery— Hessians. 

Ships — 50 to 28 guns, 34; 20 to 10 guns, 22; Bombs, 2; Armed vessels, 10. 

James Lovell, letter of Sept. 17th 1777 

A Tory Schoolmaster 

In his "notes on the Secret Service of the Revolutionary army operating 
around Philadelphia" Dr. Henry Leffman quotes Robert Proud, the "Tory 
Schoolmaster" (Penna. Magazine) who taught the sons of rebels good loyalist 
doctrines at 119 south Fourth street. 

70 



"All of the Rebel Party that -v/ere in Arms, as well as those that held 
ofifices under the Usurpation and many others of their Connections and 
Abettors having before left the city," (on approval of the British) "carrying off 
almost everything which they thought might be of use to the English Army 
besides what they apprehended might be wanted by themselves, which they took 
chiefly from the Quakers and such as least favored them." 

"The city is yet safe, but it was fully expected that they" (the rebels) "would 
have set Fire to it, according to repeated Threats and Language of many of 
them to do it, when in Possession of the English, and then throw the Blame 
on them as is generally agreed was done in New York." 

Hard Lines for Citizens and Prisoners 

The activity of Washington's scouting parties doubtless made it a venture- 
some matter for the country people to keep Philadelphia supplied with enough 
food. The soldiery got most of what did come in, leaving but little for the 
residents and prisoners. Upon Nov. 17th, 1777, a rebel spy reported from the 
city as follows. 

"Every day increases the Price and Scarcity of Provisions. Heaven only 
knows what will become of us if you do not soon relieve us by routing them, 
the Prisoners have suffered very much, as the inhabitants have it not in their 
power to supply them as they would, they are now reduced to three hundred 
by Inlisting and Sickness so that they fare something better." — (From original 
in Library of Congress copied by Dr. Henry Leflfman.) 

Fighting Quakers 

Many of the younger members of the Society of Friends in Philadelphia 
took sides with the American contestants and were "read out of meeting." At 
the end of the war they demanded to be reinstated and those who were still 
left outside of the faith, formed the Society of Free Quakers and built the 
structure at the south west corner of Fifth and Arch streets for a place of 
worship. This was, for many years, in later times known as the Apprentices' 
Library. Many of these "Fighting Quakers" were buried in ground given them 
by the state upon the west side of Fifth street below Locust street. 

Loyalist and Patriot Quakers 

After the departure of the enemy from Philadelphia two Quakers named 
Roberts and Carlisle were tried and executed in Philadelphia under martial law. 

Isaac Walker and other members of the Society of Friends hauled all of 
Washington's army stores from White Marsh to Valley Forge free of charge, 
and the Friends generally in the vicinity are credited with much humanity toward 
the troops. 

Deborah Logan's Diary 

Upon the night following the battle of Germantown many of the American 
prisoners were placed in the State House, the wounded being attended by the 
British surgeons, where, as described in the diary of Deborah Logan the women 
of the city were allowed to bring them food and some medical supplies. One 
of these patriot ladies being challenged good naturedly, because the British 
wounded in the hospitals did not receive similar favors, said, "Oh! sir, it is in 
your power to fully provide for them but we cannot see our own countrymen 
suffer and not provide for them." 

Prison and Trench 

The great prison at the south east corner of Sixth and Walnut streets 
had been completed shortly before the opening of the war and was used by 
both the Americans and the British to house prisoners. Under the charge of 
the merciless British Provost Marshal John Cunningham the Americans held 
there during the British occupation suffered greatly. Many of them are 
numbered among the unnamed thousands buried in the potters' field, now 
Washington Square. 

71 



Philadelphia's Normal Population in 1777 

In 1777 the normal population of Philadelphia was 23,734 a"d the number 
of dwellings in and about the city was 5,395- 

A Washington Letter from the Camp 

The following extract from a letter by Washington, in the hand-writing 
of and dictated to Alexander Hamilton, was printed in the Public Ledger a 
short time ago, with other recently discovered Revolutionary letters owned by 
Mr. W. K. Bixby. 

"The Enemy still remain in possession of Philadelphia and are secured by a 
strong chain of Redoubt with Intrenchments of Communication from Schuylkill 
to Delaware. We are posted on the West side of the former about 20 miles 
from the City, and with pains and industry the Troops are tolerably well covered 
m Huts. We are to regret we are not more comfortably quartered, but cir- 
cumstances would not admit of it. Had we retired to the Towns in the interior 
of the State a large Tract of fertile Country would have been exposed to ravage 
and ruin and we should have distressed in a peculiar manner the virtuous 
Citizens from Philadelphia who had fled thither for refuge." 

The Meschianza 

The Meschianza planned by a number of Howe's gay officers, including 
Andre, took place at the stately country seat of the Wharton's which was near 
the present intersection of Third and Wharton Sreets. It was preceded by a 
fine flotilla, passing down the Delaware river, and the participation of many 
of Philadelphia's most aristocratic and beautiful belles in the tournay banquet 
and ball led to a social upheaval only second in its bitterness to the war itself. 

Stedman Upon General Howe 

"In this infirm and dangerous state he continued from December until 
May, during all which time every person expected that the Commander-in-Chief 
would have stormed or besieged his camp, the situation of which equally invited 
either attempt. To have posted two thousand men on a commanding ground 
near the bridge, on the north side of the Schuylkill, would have rendered his 
escape on the left impossible, two thousand men placed on a like ground 
opposite the narrow pass would have as effectually prevented a retreat in his 
rear, and five or six thousand men, stationed on the front or right of his 
camp would have deprived him of flight upon these sides. — But onr army, 
neglecting all these opportunities, was suffered to continue at Philadelphia, where 
the whole winter was spent in dissipation. A want of discipline and proper 
subordination pervaded the whole army; and if disease and sickness thinned the 
American army encamped at Valley Forge, indulgence and luxury perhaps did 
no less injury to the British troops at Philadelphia." 

Stedman's History of the American War, London, 1794. 

Greene Loses Officers 

"Yesterday upwards of fifty officers in Gen. Greene's Division resigned their 
commissions. Six or seven in our Regiment are doing the like today. All 
this is occasioned by Officers Families being so much Neglected at home on 
account of Provisions." 

Diary of Surgeon Waldo Dec. 28th 1777. 

Building the Huts 

The greater number of the huts were built upon the land of Mordecai 
Moore and David Stevens, some being upon the property of other owners. 

"I was there when the army first began to build huts. They appeared to 
me like a family of beavc'-rs. Every one busy, some carrying logs, others mud 
and the rest plastering them together. The whole was raised in a few days 
and it is a curious collection of buildings in the true rustic order." Paine to 
Franklin. 

72 




Headquarters ok Brig. Gen. George Weedon 




SiRTHPLACE AND HOME OF MAJOR GeN. AnTHONY WaYNE, 

Easttown, Chester Co., Pa. 



73 



A Midnight Feast 

At 12 of the clock at night Providence sent us a Httle Mutton with which we 
immediately had some Broth made & a fine Stomach for same. Ye who Eat 
Pumpkin Pie and Roast Turkies and yet Curse fortune for using you ill Curse 
her no more lest she reduce your Allowance of her favours to a bit of Fire 
Cake & a draught of Cold Water & in Cold Weather too. 

Diary of Surgeon Waldo, Dec. 22, 1777. 

Some Thieving Soldiers 

Even Washington's Life Guard contained men who turned highwaymen and 
robbed the countrymen. Later in the war several of them were hanged for 
the oftense. 

British Goods for Yankee Use 

"The Brigg taken from the Enemy (and mentioned New Years Day) is the 
greatest prize ever taken from tliein — -There is Scarlet — Blue — and Buff Cloth, 
sufficient to Cloath all the Officers of the Army — and Hats — Shirts — Stockings — 
Shoes^ — Boots. — Spurs — &c, to finish compleat Suits for all. A petition is sent 
to his Excellency that this Cloathing may be dealt out to the Regimental 
Officers only at a moderate price — excluding Commissaries — Bull Drivers &c — 
There are 4 or 5000 Apeletes of gold and Silver — Many chests of private Officers 
Baggage and Genera] How's Silver Plate — and Kitchen furniture &c. This Cargo 
was sent to Cloathe all the Officers of the British Army." 

Diary of Surgeon Waldo, Dec. 22d, 1777. 

An Estimate of the American Force 

In December 1777, citing the late Henry Armitt Brown, Esq., the entire 
army of the Americans numbered 12,161 Continentals and 3,241 Militia; about 
two thirds of whom probably went to Valley Forge or were on outpost duty at 
various points around Philadelphia. 

Blankets Kept in Camp 

"The distress for Blankets makes it necessary to retain those the Soldiers 
have who have been discharged. This order of the Brigadier will be readily 
complyed with by the men who are going home in order to afford more Comfort 
to their Brother Soldiers who keep the Field." 

Stirling's Suggestion 

In a letter to General Washington dated October 29th, 1777, Lord Stirling 
advised making winter quarters somewhere near Radnor Meeting House equally 
distant from the fords of the Schuylkill below Valley Forge. 

At Gulph Mill 

"Cold rainy Day. Baggage ordered over the Gulph of our Division which 
we were to march at Ten, but the baggage was order'd back and for the first 
time since we have been here the Tents were pitch'd to keep the men more 
comfortable." — Diary of Surgeon Albigence Waldo. 

The Gulph Mill Memorial 

In front of the Gulph Mill, which dates from 1747, a great boulder standing 
nine feet high upon its^ base was dedicated upon June 19th, 1893, by the 
Pennsylvania Sons of the Revolution. It bears a panel inscribed with the fact 
that the Continental Army encamped in this vicinity from December 13th to the 
19th, 1777. 

74 



Valley Forge First Advised 

Probably the first mention of Valley Forge as a desirable wintering place 
for the Continentals was made, in his opinion to the Commander-in-Chief, 
submitted, with others, at the White Marsh council of war, by Col. Lutterloh, 
who urged that one or more brigades should be located at "Wolley Forge." 

Washington's Tent 

The location of Washington's A-Iarquee tent is indicated upon a French 
sketch map in the vicinity of Washington redoubt. 

The Commander's Expenses 

Washington received no pay from the Government for his services, but in 
1783 he rendered a detailed account of his personal expenses from the date of 
assuming command of the forces. The total amount of the period of nearly 
seven years being £16,311. 

Billy Lee, Servant 

A humble but highly important functionary of Washington's entourage was 
his colored servant, "Billy Lee," whose portrait by the famous Philadelphia 
artist, Peale, is now among the treasures of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania. 

Washington's Life Guard 

By Washington's own account his personal guard in the winter of 1777-8 
was composed entirely of Virginians. When Baron Steuben proposed to school 
an especial corps for the new drill the Commander-in-Chief's Guard was increased 
by one hundred new men selected from the regiments of other States, making 
a force of 146 men exclusive of the officers, all being native Americans. 

The Flag of the Life Guard 

The flag of the "Life Guard'' or Commander-in-Chief's Guard was deposited 
m Alexandria, Virginia, after the war, and was still preserved there as late as 
1856, in the lodge room of the Free Masons. A Wisconsin soldier has written the 
author that this flag was destroyed by a fire during the Civil War. 

Temporary Life Guard Details 

Temporary details of foot and horse for escort duty has led in later times 
to much innocent confusion upon the part of many who have been anxious to 
claim descent from members of the special guards of Washington. For an 
accurate and complete list see Dr. C. E. Godfrey's book, "The Commander-in- 
Chief's guard, Revolutionary War." 

A Monument Voted for Gen. Nash 

Weedon Orderly Book, Nov. nth, 1777. 

"The Hon'ble Continental Congress have passed the following Resolves 
which have been transmitted hither to be made publick in the Army, viz. 

Resolved, that his Excellency Governor Caswell of North Carolina be 
requested to erect a Monument at the Expense of the United States in honour 
of the Memory of Brigad. Gen'l Francis Nash who fell in the Battle of German 
Town on the 4 Day of October 1777 bravely contending for the Independence of 
his Country." 

This was probably the first monument ordered for a Revolutionary hero. 

Anthony Wayne, Soldier 

• , ^"th°"y Wayne, born at East Town, Pa., became a soldier in the Minute men 
with rank of corporal of minute men before the opening of the War. He gained 
the rank of colonel in two regiments prior to the signing of the Declaration 

75 



of Independence, was a Brigadier General at Valley Forge, and a Brevet- 
Major General at its close. 

His subsequent career included service in nearly every part of the Union; 
his most important work having been the clearing of the middle west of hostile 
elements and its opening to immigration. 

He was Commander-in-Chief of the army nearly four years, holding this 
rank at" the time of his death, aged 51 years at Presque Isle, Pa. His body 
rested for a long period at Erie, but was eventually removed to the churchyard 
of Old St. Davids, Radnor, Pa. 

Pushing the Defenses 

Weedon Orderly Book, Jan. 15th, 1778. 

"The works mark'd out by the Ingenieurs for the defense of the Camp are 
to be erected with all possible dispatch and the Commander-in-Chief requests the 

favor of General Green Lord Stirling and the Marquis La Fayette to 

consult with Gen'l Portail on the proper means and number of men necessary 
to execute the works in the different Wing's and Second Line and give orders 
accordingly" 

Angels of Mercy 

Among the patriotic women of the neighborhood who sought to alleviate 
the miseries of the camp were Sarah Walker, Elizabeth Stephens, Priscilla 
Stephens, Margaret Beaver, Elizabeth Moore and Jane Moore. 

One Well-Provided Mess 

"Valley Forge, January 14th, 177S. 
"At the request of Col. Stewart the officers of the regiment (13th Penn- 
sylvania) were summoned to dine with him, where we spent the day in civil 
jollity. In this manner several days were spent passing by rotation from the 
senior to the junior ofScers. Thus, and in many other desirable enjoyments 
we passed some part of the winter campaign making ourselves as happy as 
circumstances would admit." — Diary of Lieut. James McMichael. 

A False Accusation 

General Joseph Reed, Adjutant General, was wrongfully charged with an 
intention of surrendering to the British at Bristol, N. J., immediately prior to the 
Battle of Trenton. The existing testimony to that effect is to be found in the 
Journal of Margaret Morris, of Burlington, N. J., and in a collection of letters 
published in 1856 by Horace W. Smith under the title of "Nuts for Future 
Historians to Crack." Gen. Wm. S. Stryker, of New Jersey, discovered in 1876 
that Gen'l Joseph Reed was unjustly accused, the person really culpable having 
been another officer named Reed. holding a commission as colonel. 

A War of Races 

Upon "St. Patrick's day" the Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers set up a stuffed 
"paddy," whereupon the Irish and the Dutch had a fight. This was quieted by 
Washington by the issue of a round of grog for the whole army. 

The Drill Corps 

Weedon Orderly Book, March 17th, 1778. 

"One hundred Chosen men are to be annexed to the Guard of the _ Com- 
mander-in-Chief for the purpose of forming a Corps to be instructed in the 
Maneuvres necessary to be introduced in the Army and serve as a model for 
the execution of them. As the Genl's guard is compos'd entirely of Virginians 
the 100 Draughts are to be taken from the Troops of other States." 

Enforcing a Good Appearance 

Wayne Orderly Book, March 29th, 1778. 

The General therefore in the most Pointed terms Desires the Officers to 
oblige their men to appear Clean and Decent at all times and upon all Occasions, 

ye 




77 



even Punishing that Soldier that appears Dirty, whether on Duty or not. The 
Officers will cause the men to wear their Hatts in one way in the most Soldierly 
like Position and oblige them to JNIend their old clothes so as to make the best 
appearance possible. The General Expects a Sufficiency of Hatts with Some 
other Clothing for the men every Hour. He has also ordered Col. Byard to 
Lancaster to provide the officers clothing and the Drums and Fifes belonging to 
the Division. 

Anthony Wayne, B. G. 

Wayne Orderly Book, April 4th, 1778. 

"Nothing can conduce more to the Health of soldiers than a clean Camp 
clean clothes and victuals well dressed, this however Deeply Involved in Rags 
an Army may be, and to be effected by Attention in the Officers the General 
therefore calls upon Every Officer from the Major General to the Corporal for 
their exertion, hoping, therefore, by the Blessing of God to prevent Such 
numbers of Deaths which unfortunately has happened since we came to this 
Place." 

Inspecting the Sick 

Wayne Orderly Book, April 4th, 177S. 

"It is the General's positive Orders that all the Invalids be Paraded at the 
same time and that the olficers take care that they appear clean and that the 
whole are paraded, the general being Determined to examine every man himself 
to the End that if any of the Soldiers are suffering for want of necessaries or 
Proper Care or Attention either in the Ofiicers or Surgeons that these defects 
may be Remedied." 

Anthony Wayne, B. G. 

The Lottery 

Wayne Orderly Book, April 27th, 1778. 

"A Few Continental Tickets to be Sold at the Orderly Office, the Drawing 
of the Lottery the first of next month." 

Only Two Days for Guards 

Wayne Orderly Book, April — 

"In future no Guard in Camp is to be suffered to be on Duty more than 
48 hours without being Relieved. On Monday next the several Brigades will 
begin their Exercises at 6 o'clock in the morning and from 5 o'clock to 6 o'clock 
in the afternoon." 

Sunday Services 

Weedon Orderly Book, May 2d, 1778. 

"The Commander in Chief Directs that Divine Service be performed every 
Sunday at 11 o'clock in those Brigades to which there are Chaplains — those 
which have none to attend the place of Worship nearest to them." 

Wayne's Order for Neatness 

Wayne Orderly Book, May 12th, 1778. 

Every Commanding officer of Regts and Corps to cause the Taylors to repair 
the Coats or Uniform of the Soldiers Immediately and by all means to Prevent 
them from carrying their provisions or water on their heads or shoulders as 
nothing tends to destroy and Dirty their Hatts and uniforms equal to this 
unsoldierly Practice. 

Anthony Wayne, B. G. 

No More Funeral Volleys 

Weedon Orderly Book, April 12th, 1778. 

"Funeral honors at the Interment of Officers are for the future to be 
confin'd to a solemn procession of Officers and Soldiers in Numbers Suitable to 
the Rank of the Deceas'd with revers'd arms. Fireing on these occasions is to 
be abolish'd in Camp." 



The Duello 

Duelling had its sinister hold upon the army even in the midst of its travail. 
Upon April 30th, 1778, Lieut. Green was killed in an "affair of honor" by Lieut. 
White, and was buried in one of the churchyards of Upper Merion. 

A Multi-Colored Army 

So diverse were the uniforms provided by the different States to their 
soldiers that m order to distinguish them as friends it was ordered, at the battle 
of Germantown, that each man should wear a piece of white paper in his hat. 

Stirling's Brigade Position 

An interesting sketch map, made by a French engineer and now in 
possession of Gov. Sam'l W. Pennypacker, indicates that later the brigade of 
Lord Stirling was stationed upon the slope of the height to the west of the 
mouth of Valley Creek and near the river. 

Lord Stirling, Patriot 

Lord Stirling, William Alexander, was a native of New Jersey. He married 
the daughter of Philip Livingston, of New York. He was a claimant before 
the British courts for the titie and escheated estates of the Earl of Stirling, and 
assumed the title. He was one of the most active of the American officers. He 
died one week before the declaration of peace. 

A Virginia Brigadier 

General W^eedon had been a Virginia tavernkeeper from Fredericksburg, 
and as he was reputed to have served his customers with rum in gourds, he was 
derisively known in the army as "Joe Gourd." There are tales of his cruelty 
toward his men, but they may have been quite as unjust as many other legends 
of the time reflecting upon officers. Weedon was still in the army at the time 
of the surrender at Yorktown. 

Congressional Diversions at York 

York, Pa., Feb. 20th 1778 

Balls have been given so often as to call forth remonstrances from all the 
clergymen in the town. 

Diary of Rev. Geo. Neisser. 

Passports at the Bridge 

Wayne Orderly Book, April 17th, 1778. 

"All permits to go out of Camp for the future are to be by Brigadiers or 
Officers commanding Brigades. The Officers of the Guard at Sullivan's Bridge 
to carefully Inspect the Paper offered them and make himself a Judge of their 
Authority." 

Straw for the Sick 

Wayne Orderly Book, ]\Iay i6th, 1778. 

"The Brigade quartermasters to provide straw for the men who have no 
blankets, the sick of the several Regiments to be first supplied." 

Ragged and Discouraged Officers 

"Many officers who have behaved with credit have petitioned. me for Leave 
to Retire for a Season or to Resign their Commissions and assigned as a Reason 
for not waiting on me that they were so naked they were ashamed to be seen. 
That clothing was not to be had and even if it was their wages would not enable 
them to purchase; I have taken pains to Inquire of the most sensible officers 
and have conversed with several General Officers upon the alarming spirit of 
Resignation which takes place in the Army and find they in general say this: 

79 



that they and their men have been marching -and countermarching all the year, 
that they have fought no General Action besides Skirmishes, that the cloathes 
and Shoes which they wore out has amounted to their wages, which leaves 
their Families to suffer at home. That the Baggage they sent to Bethlehem 
has been mostly plundered and they have no possible way of replacing it: That 
the price of Articles bears no proportion to their wages — they further say that 
their Rank has not been settled, that they have been told from time to time that 
this should be done when they Retired to winter Quarters of which they do not 
seethe least prospect and that while they have contentedly borne all this they 
Daily see Congress placing men over their heads without any Regard to their 
Ranks or Services" 

From opinion of Maj. Gen. Sullivan at Council of War at Whitemarsh, 
Dec. 4th 1777 

The Whipping Post 

"Thos. Fitzgerald and David Rush Inhabitants of this State Tryed for 
attempting to Relieve the Enemy with Provisions found Guilty of a Breach of 
a Resolution of Congress Oct. 8th 'j^ and Extended &c. Sentenced each to 
Receive 100 lashes on Their bare Back." 

Weedon Orderly Book, Feb. 8th, 1778. 

"Thos. Butler an Inhabitant of the State of Pennsylvania tried for attempt- 
ing to Carry flour into Philadelphia. Sentenced to receive 250 lashes on 

his bare back." 

Schuylkill Clam Soup 

Sullivan's men, being posted at the river, enjoyed a special source of nutri- 
ment as they fished the clams from the river bed and converted them into soup. 

Madame Washington's Relief Corps 

In February, Lady Stirling and Mrs. General Knox visited Mrs. Wash- 
ington, and their time was spent in knitting socks for the soldiers. Mrs. Bowen, 
of Chester County, often visited the camp on horseback, bringing gifts of food 
in the saddle bags, and it is said, by Mrs. Margaret B. Harvey, Historian of 
Merion Chapter, D. of R., that she taught Mrs. Washington how to knit 
stockings. 

Bethlehem and the Moravians 

"For six years Bethlehem, Pa. was a thoroughfare for troops, , twice the 
seat of the Continental Hospital and temporarily the refuge of the American 
Congress. Upon Dec. 31st, 1777, seven hundred sick and wounded soldiers were 
in the Single Brethren's House. Upwards of four hundred Revolutionary 
soldiers are buried within the limits of the town. 

"In the course of the war nearly every officer of importance in the 
American Army was a guest sick or well at the famous Sun Inn " 

Conditions in the hospitals established at Bethlehem and other points after 
the campaign of 1777 were little if any better than those existing at the camp. 
In the Bethlehem hospital where the Moravians assisted the army surgeons 
and nurses faithfully the want of medicines and clothing as well as the crowded 
condition of the wards occasioned great mortality. Out of forty men of the 
Sixth Virginia Regiment sent there all died but three. 

Thomas Paine 

It has been claimed by some writers that Thomas Paine, the brilliant, 
erratic, sceptical bohemian who wrote the "Age of Reason," addressed the 
troops at some time during the encampment and in so doing greatly encouraged 
them. This is, however, apparentlj^ beyond confirmation. During much of that 
winter Paine was a guest in the home of William Henry at Lancaster, engaged 
intermittently in writing his famous Crisis. William Henry, an ancestor of 
Dr. Jordan, of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, was the inventor of the 
screw augur, and with Rittenhouse, Payne and John Hart active in the affairs 
of the American Philosophical Society. 



The Troops with Gates at Saratoga 

The troops under Gates at the battle of Saratoga were Nixon's, Glover's 
and Patterson's Continental brigades, all of Massachusetts. Poors Brigade of 
New Hampshire, consisting of Cilley's Scammels and Hale's Regiments. The 
3d New York regiment Col. Van Courtlandt, 4th New York regiment Col. Henry 
Livingston, two Connecticut militia regiments under Colonels Cook and 
Lattimer, Morgan's Rifle Corps and three hundred light infantry under Col. 
Dearborn of New Hampshire. 

Gen. Conway's Downfall 

Upon February 28, 1778, General Washington wrote to Col. John F. Fitz- 
gerald at Alexandria^ Va. : 

"I have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this Junta 
will recoil upon their own heads and be a means of bringing some matters to 
light which, by getting me out of the way, they thought to conceal." 

"I am content if they remove any General except his Excellency. The 
country, even Congress, are not aware of the Confidence the Army Places in 
him, or motions never would have been made for Gates to take the Command. — 
Letter from Capt. Selden, of the Connecticut Line, written at Valley Forge. 

After the collapse of the cabal, Conway resigned from the Board of Vv'^ar, 
and having been severely wounded in a duel, believing himself about to die, he 
wrote a contrite letter to General Washington. He recovered and left the 
country. 

Washington wrote to Richard Henry Lee in Congress; 

"General Conway's merit as an officer and his importance in this army exist 
more in his immagination than in reality. For it is a maxim with him to leave 
no service of his own untold, nor to want anything which is to be obtained 
by importunity" 

The Oath of Allegiance. 

The oath of allegiance was required by an Act of Congress, dated Feb. 3d, 1778, 
and was signed, under the supervision of Brig.-Gen. Anthony Wayne, by 946 officers 
at Valley Forge, 116 at Mount Joy and 53 at Albany. 

A Frenchman's Criticism and Appeal 

M. du Portail, a French Colonel and a Brigadier General in the American 
Army, wrote from White Marsh camp upon November 12th 1777 to the French 
Minister of War in the following terms. 

"You will be astonished Sir at this language, but such are these people 
that they move without spring or energy, without vigor, and without passion for 
a cause in which they are engaged, and which they follow only as the impulse 
of the hand that first put them in motion directs. There is an hundred times 
more enthusiasm for this revolution in any one cofifee-house of Paris, than in 
all the Thirteen Provinces united. It is necessary, then that France, to accomplish 
this revolution should furnish these people with every requisite to lessen the 
hardships of war. True, it will cost some millions, but they will be well laid 
out in annihilating the power of England, which, bereft of her colonies, without 
a navy and without commerce, will lose her consequence in the world and leave 
France without a rival." 

Market Days in the Camp 

Weedon Orderly Book, Feb. 8th, 1778. 

"Tomorrow being the Day appointed for Opening the Market at the Stone 
Chimnej' Pickett the Army is desired take notice of the same. Markets will 
be held at the same place evei'y Monday and Thursday, on the East side of 
the Schuylkill near the North Bridge Every Tuesday and Friday, near the Adju't 
Gen'ls Office Every Wednesday and Saturday." 

A Pleasing Tradition 

A letter in the Philadelphia Item, May 27th, 1898, dated at Glen Rock, Pa., 
includes a statement that one day the camp was rejoiced by the arrival of ten 
teams of Oxen driven by women, hauling supplies, including two thousand 
shirts made for the army by the women of Philadelphia. The writer does not 
explain how these goods got through the British lines. 

81 



Washington's Barbaric Entourage 

Washington's Indian auxiliaries formed at times a picturesque feature of 
the army. Lieut. Enos Reeves, describing a grand review (Sept. 13th, 1780,), 
thus refers to them as they appeared in the retmue of the Commander-in-Chief: 

"I must inform you that his same Motley Crew, that we have just received 
with such pomp, is no less than a number of Indian Chiefs of the Stockbridge 
Oneida and several other Nations of whom a Colonel Lewis is the principal. He 
has been of infinite service since this War commenced and has brought several 
chiefs of diiterent Nations to see the French at Rhode Island where they were a 
novelty and were treated with the utmost civility. They were taken through 
all our Army and saluted at the Park with thirteen pieces of ordnance, which they 
received with a hideous Yell but were much pleased with it. They are enter- 
tained by His Excellency at his own Table; dine, breakfast &c with his family and 
the Gen'l Officers that attend there" 

A Polish Volunteer 

Cassimir, Count Pulaski, of Poland, was at Valley Forge for a time, occupy- 
ing the house of Devault Beaver (now owned by Henry Warburton), He left 
there to recruit the Pulaski Legion (cavalry). The banner for this corps was 
made by the Moravian nuns of Bethlehem. 

Baron Steuben, Drillmaster 

Wayne Orderly Book, March 6th, 1778. 

"Baron Steuben, a Lieut. General in Foreign Service and a gentleman of 
great Military Experience Having oblidgingly undertaken the exercise of the 
Ofhce of Inspector General in this Army, the Commander-in-Chief, till the 
Pleasure of Congress shall be known Desires that he will be Respected and 
Obeyed as such and hopes and expects that all Officers of whatever ^Rank in it 
will Afford him every aid in their Power in the execution of his office." 

Soon after the Baron Steuben had reached the Camp he wrote, of his 
impressions in these words: "The arms at Valley Forge were in a horrible 
condition covered with rust, half of them without bayonets, many from which a 
single shot could npt* be fired. The pouches were quite as bad as the arms. A 
great many of the men had tin boxes instead of pouches, others had cow horns, 
and muskets, carbines, fowling pieces and rifles were seen in the same company. 
The description of the dress is most easily given. The men were hterally 
naked, some of them in the fullest sense of the word. The ofihcei-s who had 
coats had them of every color and make. I saw officers at a grand parade at 
Valley Forge mounting guard in a sort of dressing gown made of an old blanket 
or woolen bed cover. With regard to their military discipline I m.ay safely 
say that no such thing existed." ■ , 1 -a 

Many of the powder horns still largely in use, especially with the riflemen, 
which were a novelty to Baron Steuben, were decorated with rude defiances and 
considerable sentiment. This custom seems to have been popular with both sides. 
Following are a few examples: 

"I, powder, with my brother, ball 
Hero like do conquer all" 

"The red-coat who steals this Horn^ 
Will go to hel as shures hes Born" 

"Down with the Tyrant King!" 

"Yankee doodle cum to Town 
Wareing linen breeches 
He made the red-coats leave the sound 
And filled up all his Ditches" 

"By the first day of .April Steuben had already impressed his enthusiasm for 
discipline upon the army. On that date John Laurens wrote. I must not ornit 
to inform you that Baron Steuben is making sensible progress with f^r Soldiers^ 
The officers seem to have a high opinion of him, and discover a docility from 

83 * 



which we may augur the most happy effects. It would enchant you to see the 
enlivened scene of oui- Campus Martius." 

Baron Steuben died November 25th, 1795, at the age of sixty-six years, upon 
his large land-grant in the vicinity of Utica, N. Y., where he was buried in 
uniform. His aide, Col. North, inherited his property and erected a monument 
to his memory. 

Steuben's Drill Corps 

Steuben first exhibited his Headquarters drill-corps before the Inspectors 
and other officers upon April 6th, 1778. The officers of the infantry at this 
time, were Captain Caleb Gibbs, Lieut. Livingston, Lieut. Benjamin Grymes, 
Lieut. William Colfax and Surgeon Samuel Hanson, son of the President of 
Congress. The uniform of the horse was of dark blue, with a helmet adorned by 
a fox tail, and that of the infantry guards a dark blue coat faced with buff, red 
vest, buckskin breeches, white cross belts and a black cocked hat, edged with 
white tape. 

Charles Lee, Traitor 

"At the time of his exchange (which was arranged at Germantown) Lee 
was at Yorktown on parole, and on the day fixed for his reporting at head- 
quarters the greatest preparations were made for his reception. "All of the 
principal officers of the Army were drawn up in two lines, advanced of the camp 
about 2 miles toward the Enemy. Then the Troops with the inferior officers 
formed a line quite to head-quarters — all the Music of the Army attended. The 
General with a great number of principal Officers and their Suites rode about 
four miles on the road toward Philadelphia, and waited until Gen'l Lee appeared. 
General Washington dismounted and rec'd Gen'l Lee as if he had been his 
Brother. He passed thro' the Lines of Officers and the Army who paid him 
the highest military Honors at Headquarters, where Mrs. Washingtn was and 
here he was entertained with an elegant Dinner and the music playing the whole 
time." — Journal of Elias Boudinot. 

Charles Lee was the son of a British general. He took part in the capture 
of Montreal in 1760. After an absence of thirteen years in Europe, during 
which he had a varied military career, he returned to America and offered his 
services to Congress. He obtained a commission of_ Major General. His 
egotism found expression in an attitude of covert hostility toward Washington. 
His treasonable purposes were established upon the publication of Lord Howe's 
papers in 1857, for among them was found a plan of Campaign written by Lee, 
while a prisoner in New York, for the guidance of the British Commander. 

The Gallows 

The gallows is said to have been situated upon the land of David Stevens, a 
little north of the Gulf Road, and near the corner of the county line intersection. 
The land was afterward the property of William Henry. 

The Executioners. 

The Provost Marshal's force at Valley Forge was organized and mounted 
as light dragoons, and among the subalterns were four executioners. These men 
administered the punishments of hanging and flogging so frequently imposed by the 
courts-marshal in the several brigades. 

Marquis de Lafayette and His Companions 

On his arrival, he and his companions were much surprised and discouraged 
by the receptions they met with. Mr. Deane, the officers were told, had gone 
far beyond his instructions in making contracts with those who desired to enter 
the American service, especially by attempting to provide commissions_ in our 
army for them. The position of Congress was one of great delicacy and difficulty. 
It was embarrassed by Mr. Deane's oromises, not merely because no new 
officers were needed, but also because their appointment in accordance with the 
promise made by Deane would make them outrank the American officers, who 
from the beginning had borne the burden and heat of the day, and who were 
in most cases quite as competent for their work as those who sought to super- 
sede them. Besides, although La Fayette professed his disinterestedness, yet 
Congress could not shut its eyes to the fact that he was, after all, only a runaway 
French officer, whose appointment in our armj'- might produce at the Court of 

83 



France a most unfavorable impression at a time when we were negotiating for 
a close alliance with that power. Then, in addition to all this, it was not the 
practice to make men major-generals who were but nineteen years old, and who, 
of course, had had no military experience. We were then, it must be remembered, 
absolutely dependent for our military supplies upon France, and they had been 
purchased m that country for us by Mr. Deane. Deane was not only our pur- 
chasing agent, but he assumed to be, to a large number of French officers who 
desired to enter into our service, authorized to issue military commissions to 
them. As he had received no such instructions from our government and no 
authority from France to confer these commissions in that country, his heedless 
conduct had to be disavowed. 

Under circumstances such as these Congress may well have been embarrassed, 
and the members who tried to speak French with La Fayette's companions were 
certainly not cordial; but it seeined that there was no alternative, and the 
extraordinary step was taken, July 31, 1777, of making a boy of nineteen years 
of age a major-general, in "consideration," as the resolution stated, "of his zeal, 
illustrious family, and connections." It is true that in order to save appearances 
the appointment was called an honorary one. Kalb and his other friends at 
first sought commissions in vain, but within a short time, probably at the 
earnest request of La Fayette himself, Kalb was made a major-general, his 
commission bearing the same date as that of La Fayette. There seems to have 
been a certain fascination about La Fayette at this time which carried beyond 
the bounds of prudence in this matter the members of the Continental Congress. 
Even Washington himself does not seem to have escaped the contagion of that 
sympathy which everywhere surrounded him. The first time he saw him he 
treated him as his own son and begged that he would make the quarters of 
the Commander-in-Chief his home. Nothing is more curious and interesting 
about this book of Mr. Tower than the new light which his account_ of the 
relations between Washington and La Fayette throws upon the characteristics of 
the former. To him Washington does not appear as the cold, reserved, dignified 
personage whom he is justly represented to be in his intercourse vvith others. 
In every letter which he writes to La Fayette the gentle, affectionate, and 
tender side of his nature is most conspicuous, and La Fayette received it all with 
a loving, filial reverence which showed how he valued the absolute confidence 
which the great chief reposed in him. All his letters breathe the same spirit. 
Indeed, the affectionate relations between Washington and La Fayette, continu- 
ing without a break for nearly a quarter of a century, seem unparalleled in the 
history of the former's life. — From reviews of "The Marquis De La Fayette_ in 
the American Revolution," by Charlemagne Tower, Jr., LL. D. Dr. Chas. J. Stille 
in the Pennsylvania Magazine, 1895. 

The Guest of a Grateful Nation in 1824 

Forty-six years later this dashing French soldier was to come once more 
to America as the guest of a grateful people. He came marked by the heavy 
hand of time, but with enough of his native strength and buoyant spirits to 
withstand an unparalleled reception which lasted an entire year. The fortune 
which, in his youth, had been freely used in behalf of America was gone, but he 
made not complaint of poverty, nevertheless the nation presented him, as a 
token of its appreciation of his services, with the sum of $200,000, together with 
a grant of land. Lafayette's official reception took place in Philadelphia 
September 28th, 1824. 

Upon the following day a deputation of citizens of the neighboring country- 
side called upon the Marquis de Lafayette to invite him to visit Valley Forge 
and other scenes of Revolutionary interest. He repaired to the field of Brandy- 
wine, but other plans prevented him from again viewing Valley Forge. 

A Private Soldier's Observation 

"One hundred and two of the Life Guard and three thousands of the army 
was sent under the command of the Right Honorable Maj. Gen. Delefiatee and 
we marched to Barronhill Church and there we made a halt and Formed a line 
of battle and our guard Lay in the Frunt of the Party by Gen. Marques Quarters 
sixteen miles from Valleyford." — Diary of Elijah Fisher, private, Life Guard, 
May iS, 1778. 

84 



French Officers in the American War. 

At the request of the American Minister to France, a careful study was made, 
in, 1849, of the national army records, which resulted in the compilation of the 
names of about three hundred French officers who served in the American Army 
of the Revolution either as volunteers or with their commands in the French 
contingent. 

An Office Nobody Wanted. 

Major-Gen. Thos. Mifflin offered his resignation as Quartermaster-General upon 
October 8th, 1777, "on account of ill health," but was induced to continue in the 
office temporarily. Major-Gen. Nathaniel Greene consented reluctantly to take the 
position and assumed it upon March 2nd, 1778, retaining his rank and right to lead 
troops in battle. 

Trouble in the Camp 

Sergeant Andrew Kemp, writing upon June I3tli, 1788, to his mother, who 
lived in Chester County, told the following story: 

"We have had a dreadful time of it through the winter at Valley Forge, 
sometimes for a week at a time with nothing but frozen potatoes and everi 
worse still for clothing. Sometimes the men obliged to sleep by turns for want 
of blankets to cover the whole, and the rest keeping watch by the fires. There 
is hardly a man who has not been frostbitten. ****** g^^ q^j. distress for 
want of food was nothmg compared to the grumbling of some of the men and, 
I am_ sorry to say, of some of the officers. I really thought we should have a 
meeting once or twice, but we weathered it through without it. Some hard 
things are said since about some of the officers." 

An Echo of the Barren Hill Episode 

Wayne Orderly Book, May 14th, 1778. 

"At a general Court Martial whereof Col. Febecker was President Lieut. 
Carter of Col. Baylese's Regt. of Light Dragoons Tryed for Neglect of Duty 
in leaving the different Roads Unguarded from Barren Hill Church to Phila- 
delphia by which the Enemy advanced a body of Horse and foot to said Church 
and Surprised and made prisoners of a subaltern and his party who had Returned 
to the Church for Refreshment." 

(Lieut. Carter was acquitted of this charge.) 

An Indian Martyr 

"I was called to relieve a Soldier tho't to be dying — he expired before I 
reach'd the Hutt. He was an Lidian, an excellent Soldier — an obedient good 
natur'd fellow. He engaged for money doubtless as others do: — but he served 
his country faithfully — he has fought for those very people who disinherited his 
forefathers — having finished his pilgrimage, he was discharged from the War 
of Life and Death." 

Diary of Surgeon Waldo, Jan. 4, 1778. 

News from the Battlefield 

Extract from a letter written by Sergeant Andrew Kemp to his mother. 

"Monmouth Court House July 2d 1778 

"God be_ thankful we have had a glorious victory. The British troops 
cotnmanded by Sir Henry Clinton and ours by General Washington were nearly 
matched, say ten thousand each. We fought from the forenoon till nigh dark, 
and our M'hole loss killed and missing is short of seventy while the British lost 
about three hundred, and among them a Col. Monks or Monkston. The men 
behaved very nobly and the morning after when we found that the enemy had 
decamped over night the General (Washington) thanked us all from horseback. 
But one thing there is which has occasioned much disturbance among us. I 
mean the conduct of General Lee who attempted to retreat, and who has 
since been put under order to be court martialed." 

The Death of Col. Moncton 

The day at Monmouth was so hot that fifty-nine British soldiers died of 
sunstroke, and the Hessians in their heavy uniforms also suffered greatly. Col. 
Moncton referred to in the above quotation was buried by details of his regi- 
ment oiithe field, his grave being excavated, under fire, with their bayonets. 

British military critics commended Lee's retreat at Monmouth as good 
generalship, and strongly criticised both Washington and Clinton upon the 
manner in which they handled their respective forces. 

85 



Aaron Burr 

Matthew L. Davis, Biography of Aaron Burr, tells a story to the effect that 
Lieut. Col. Burr being placed in command of the militia at Gulph Mills, 
provoked a mutiny by his severity, and when a soldier stepped from the ranks' to 
shoot him, nearly severed the man's arm with his sword. 

Some Existing Orderly Books 

Brig.-Gen. Philip Reade, U. S. A., retired, has kindly furnished the author 
with the following data: 

At the Congressional Library, Washington, is the original orderly book, 
kept at Valley Forge by Capt. John Stagg, A. A. G., and examined by Col. 
Alexander Scammell; also an orderly book of 185 pages, known as that of 
1778, and the orderly book kept by Capt. Richard Varick. 

Washington's original orderly book, kept by Major Samuel Shaw, is at 
the Boston Atheneum, where also is a volume copy of the Washington orderly 
book, kept by Lieutenant and Adjutant John Whiting, of the 2d Mass. Infantry. 
This was published by Col. Henry Whiting. 

General Reade also calls attention to the orderly books kept by Lieut. 
John Irvin and by Capt. Benjamin Fishbourne, of the 4th Pennsylvania 
Infantry. These are in possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 

The New York Historical Society has orderly books written by Adjutant 
Peter Taulman, of Malcolm's Regiment, and Lieut. John Steele, of the 9th 
Virginia Infantry. 

An Affair of Cavalry at Signal Hill 

One of the historic landmarks identified with the period of the encampment 
is Signal Hill, at Devon, Pa.,, now owned by Mr. Wm. T. Hunter. A Colonial 
house nearby, now occupied as a dwelling, was the scene of a skirmish upon 
January 14, 1778, in which Captain Henry Lee, the "Light Horse Harry" of 
Revolutionary fame, with fourteen men of Col. Brand's Virginia cavalry regi- 
ment, defended the house against a large force of Tarleton's dragoons until upon 
the arrival of reinforcements the enemy was repulsed. 

At New Centreville, upon the road from Devon to Valley Forge, stands the 
Great yalley Baptist Church, the congregation of which this year (191 1) cele- 
brates its bi-centennial. It was used as a hospital and in its church-yard are 
buried numbers of Continental soldiers. 

A Dash at the Enemy 

June i8th — This day we learned the enem}^ had left Philadelphia. About 12 
o'clock Gen'l Poor's, Varnum's and Huntingdon's Brigades and another 
Southern Brigade marched ofif, and we had orders with the rest of the whole 
army to march to-morrow morning at 5 o'cl'k. — Journal of Ebenezer Wild. 

The Band Came Back 

The British army was gone from Philadelphia, probably forever, but one 
hundred and twenty-seven years later the band of the Grenadiers came back, 
December, 1904, and standing in front of Independence Hall, facing the statue 
of Washington, played the "Star-Spangled Banner." 

Hessian Prisoners at the Camp 

In an address upon June i8th, 1898, the Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker, 
referred to the occupation of the Valley Forge huts by a portion of Burgoyne's 
captive army. 

Brig-Gen. John Knox 

John Knox was a young bookseller of Boston, who attracted the attention 
of Washington by his energy in bringing a large number of cannon through the 
wilderness from Ticonderoga to Boston. 

Formation of Artillery and Cavalry Bodies 

According to Lossin'g, eighteen new Brigadiers were commissoned in the 
spring of 1777, the artillery and cavalry arms being recruited about the same 
period. 

86 



Bombardiers and Matrosses. 

Under the military nomenclature of the Revolution artillerymen were designated 
as "matrosses." The word "gunner" was not used until 1783. Another antique 
term was "bombardier." 

The South Carolina Horse 

A cavalry regiment from South Carolina was in the service under Col. 
Daniel Horry, but was not, as far as known, at Valley Forge. 

An Estimate of Strength 

Upon May 8th, 1778, at a Council of War the Commander-in-Chief announced 
that exclusive of cavalry and artillery, the continental force numbered 15,000 men, 
of which 11,800 were at Valley Forge, 1,400 at Wilmington, under command 
of Brig-Gen. William Smallwood and 1,800 upon the North river under Maj.-Gen. 
McDougall. It was estimated that the whole army did not exceed 20,000 men 
at that time. 

We Who are About to Die. 

Several Revolutionary historians relate that prisoners of war upon the 
British hulk "Jersey" in Wallabout Bay, East River, New York, in the depths of 
their despair inscribed upon its gloomy walls the following soul-inspiring message 
to their countrymen. Many of these heroes were Pennsylvanians of Wayne's Division : 

"If you are victorious and our country emerges free and independent from 
the contest in which she is now engaged, but the end of which we are not 
permitted to see, bury us in her soil and engrave our names on the monument 
you shall erect over our bones as victims who willingly surrendered their lives as a 
portion of the price paid for your liberties, and our departed spirits will never 
murmur or regret the sacrifice we made to obtain for you the blessings you enjoy." 

An Alert Army. 

Washington's orders of the day from May 25th, 1778, reveal an expectation, 
doubtless based upon secret information from the city, that the British were 
likely to move out at any time and that the American forces should be ready for 
instant action. The care with which the details were worked out is proven by the 
celerity and good order attending the departure of the army in the pursuit of Howe. 

In Care of the Sick. 

When the Army departed from Valley Forge one commissioned officer to every 
fifty men left behind was detailed to remain, with brigade surgeons, to care for 
sick and disabled soldiers. Col. Courtlandt was left in command. Many of the 
ladies of the vicinity assisted the women army nurses in the hospitals. 

A Polish Hero 

Count Casimer Pulaski, a brave officer from Poland, was commissioned as 
Brigadier-General. He commanded the calvalry at the Battle of Brandywine and 
later resigned in order to recruit the famous Legion of 68 horse and 200 foot 
bearing his name. He was wounded at the siege of Savannah upon October 
Qth, 1779, and died two days later. A monument to his memory occupies a promi- 
nent location in that city. 

The Camp Field Three Years After Abandonment 

"On Monday Lt. McLean and I set ofif for the city of Philadelphia. Came 
around by the springs, lost our way by going the back road and found ourselves 
near the Bull Tavern at the Valley Forge. We dined near Moor Hall, came 
thro' our old Encampment, or rather the first huts of the whole army. Some 
of the officers' huts are inhabited, but the greatest part are decayed some are 
split up into rails, and a number of fine fields are to be seen on the level ground 
that was cleared, but in places where they have let the shoots grow it is already 
like a half-grown wood." 

Lieut Enos Reeves, Penna Line Sept. 1781 

87 



Washington's Tour of the Old Camp Ground in 1787 

July 30th 1787. 

In company with Mr. Gov'r Morris and in his Phaeton with my horses: 
went up to one Jane Moore's in the vicinity of Valley Forge to get Trout. 

July 31st, 1787. 

Whilst Mr. Morris was fishing I rid over the old Cantonment of the 
American (Army) of the winter of 1777-8 — visited all the works wch were in 
Ruins, and the Incampments in woods where the ground had not been cultivated. 
On my return to Mrs.' Moores found Mr. Robt Morris and his Lady there. 

DiaiT of George Washington. 

The Wages of War. 

As fixed by Congress, the pay of a Colonel of infantry, per month, was $75.00; 
of Captains, $40.00; of Sergeants, $10.00, and of Privates, $6.33. 

Years after the close of the war numerous veteran associations were engaged 
in the effort to obtain from the government money due their members because of 
the depreciation of the currency in which they had been paid. 

Real Money, After Five Years of Scrip 

"We marched from our encampment abut 11 o'clock yesterday, crossed 
Schuylkill bridge, and marched into the city down Chestnut Street about one 
o'clock, the detachment divided into two Battalions. We marched down Front 
Street and embarq'd near the Drawbridge, hauled off in the Stream and fell 
down opposite Almond Street. About an hour after the most of the officers 
went on shore and received from the Paymaster one month's pay in hard money; 
the first of the kind any of our line ever received" 

Letter book of Lieut. Enos Reeves, Oct. 2d, 1781. 




ROSTER OF TROOPS AT VALLEY FORGE 

The list of Infantry Brigades, taken from original records in the War 
Department, was supplied to the author by Adjutant General F. E. Ainsworth, 
U. S. A., through the courtesy of Hon. Geo. D. McCreary, M. C. Where the 
names of officers and numbers of organizations are in parentheses they were 
obtained from the existing brigade markers and other sources. 

It should be observed that the muster roll of July, 1778, (Bradford abstract) 
shows that many of the regiments had been consolidated in June and July, or 
earlier, and appear under different numbers. 



GENERAL RETURN OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY ENCAMPED AT VALLEY 

. FORGE IN PENNSYLVANIA, UNDER THE IMMEDIATE COMMAND OF 

HIS EXCELLENCY GEO. WASHINGTON, ESQ., DEC. 31, 1777 

First Maryland Brigade 14th Virginia Regt. (Lieut. Col. Wm. 

1st Maryland Regt. (Col. John H. ^^^If^o , • i. . /r- , ,,r ,. 

Stone) e. V .» j^^]-^ Pennsylvania Regt. (Col. Walter 

3d Maryland Regt. (Col. Mordecai ^^T^^^^^, c. . id • . r rr . 

Qjg^x (Raised as State Regiment of Foot 

5th' Maryland Regt. (Col. William March ist, 1777). 



Richardson) 

7th Maryland Regt. (Col. John 
Gumby). 

Delaware Regt. (Col. David Hall). 



Brig. -Gen. Wm. Maxwell's Brigade of 
Sullivan's Division 



ist New Jersey Regt. (Col. Mathias 
Ogden). 

2d New Jersey Regt. (Col. Israel 
Shreve). 

3d New Jersey Regt. (Col. Elias 
Dayton). 

4th New Jersey Regt. (Lieut.-Col. 
David Rhea). 

Brig. -Gen. Wm. Woodford's Brigade 

3d Virginia Regt. (Col. Wm. Heth). 
7th Virginia Regt. (Col. Alex. Mc- 
Clanachan). 

T,/r„^ 1 J TD • ., ^1 r nth Virginia Regt. (Col. Daniel 

Maryland Regiments are taken from |\,r x * » v 
fV.o ,-r^cfo,- r^f T,-,i-,r t-7-tQ ^ i.\iorgan;. _ 

15th Virginia Regt. (Col. David 



Second Maryland Brigade 

4th Maryland Regt. (Col. Josiah C. 
Hall). 

6th Maryland Regt. (Col. Otho 
Williams). 

2d Maryland Regt. (Col. Thos. 
Price). 

Col. Hazen's Regt. 

(The names of commanders of the 
Maryland Regiments ai 
the roster of July, 1778.) 



Brig. -Gen. J. Peter G. Muhlenberg's 
Brigade of Greene's Division 

1st Virginia Regt. (Col. Richard 
Parker). 

5th Virginia Regt. (Col. A. Buford). 

9th Virginia Regt. (Lieut. Col. 
Burgess Ball). 

Virginia State Regt. (Col. George 
Gibson). 

German Regt. (Lieut. Col. Lewis 
Weltner). 

13th Virginia Infantry (Col. William 
Russell). 

Brig. -Gen. George Weedon's Brigade 
of Greene's Division 



2d Virginia Regt. (Lieut. Col 
Charles Dabnay). 

6th Virginia Regt. (Col. John Gib- 
son). 

loth Virginia Regt. (Col. John Regt. Lieut. Col, Morgan Connor) 
Green). *Acting Brigade Commander. 



Mason). 

Brig. -Gen. Charles Scott's Brigade 

4th Virginia Regt. (Col. Isaac Read). 

8th Virginia Regt. (Col. Abraham 
Bowman). 

I2th Virginia Regt. (Lieut.-Col. Levin 
Joynes). 

Col. Wm. Grayson's Regt. (Infantry 
at large). 

Col. John Patton's Regt. (additional 
Infantry Regt. Pennsylvania line). 

First Pennsylvania Brigade 
Wayne's Division 

1st Pennsylvania Regt. (Col. James 
Chambers). 

2d Pennsylvania Regt. (Col. Henry 
Bicker). 

7th Pennsylvania Regt. (Lieut. Col. 
David Grier). 

*Col. Thos. Hartley's (additional 



89 



Second Pennsylvania Brigade 
Wayne's Division 

4th Pennsylvania Regt. Lieut. Col. 
*Wm. Butler). 

5th Pennsylvania Regt. (Col. Francis 
Johnston). 

8th Pennsylvania Regt. (Col. Daniel 
Brodhead). 

nth Pennsylvania Regt. (Col. Rich- 
ard Hampton). 

*Acting Brigade Commander. 

Brig.-Gen. Anthony Wayne acting 
Division Commander. 

Brig.-Gen. John Patterson's Brigade of 
De Kalb's Division 

loth Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Thos. Marshall). 

nth Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Benj. Tupper). 

I2th Regt. Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Saml. Brewer). 

14th Regt. Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Gamaliel Bradford). 

Lj^te Brig.-Gen. Conway's Pennsylvania 
Brigade of Stirling's Division 

3d Regt. Pennsylvania Infantry, (Col. 
Thos. Craig). 

6th Regt. Pennsylvania Infantry, 
(Lieut. Col. Josiah Harmer). 

9th Regt. Pennsylvania Infantry, 
(Lieut. Col. George Nagel). 

I2th Regt. Pennsylvania Infantry, 
(Col. Wm. Cooke). 

Col. Malcolm's Regt. 

Col. Spencer's Regt. 

Brig.-Gen. Enoch Poor's Brigade 

1st Regt., New Hampshire Infantry, 
(Col. Joseph Cilley). 

2d Regt., New Hampshire Infantry, 
(Col. Nathan Hale). 

3d Regt., New Hampshire Infantry, 
(Col. Alexander Scammell). 

2d Regt., New Hampshire Infantry, 
(Col. Philip Cortlandt). 

4th Regt., New Hampshire Infantry, 
(Col. Henry Livingston). 

Brig.-Gen. John Glover's Brigade 

1st Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Joseph Vose). 

4th Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Wm. Sheppard). 

13th Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Edward Wigglesworth). 



15th Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Timothy Bigelow). 

Brig.-Gen. Ebenezer Learned's Brigade 
Baron DeKalb's Division 

2d Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. John Bailey). 

8th Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Michael Jackson). 

9th Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. James Wesson). 

i6th Regt., Massachusetts Infantry, 
(Col. Henry Jackson). 



Brig.-Gen. James M. Varnum's Brigade 

ist Regt, Rhode Island Infantry, 
(Col. Christopher Greene). 

2d Regt., Rhode Island Infantry, 
(Col. Israel Angell). 

4th Regt., Rhode Island Infantry, 
(Col. John Durkee). 

8th Regt., Rhode Island Infantry, 
(Col. John Chandler). 



Brig.-Gen. Jedediah Huntington's 
Brigade 

1st Regt, Connecticut Infantry, 
(Lieut. Col. Samuel Prentice). 

2d Regt., Connecticut Infantry, (Col. 
Charles Webb). 

5th Regt., Connecticut Infantry, (Col. 
Philip B. Bradley). 

7th Regt, Connecticut Infantry, (Col. 
H. Swift). 

Brig.-Gen. Lachlan Mcintosh's Brigade, 
(Sullivan's Division). 

ist North Carolina Regt. (Col. 
Thomas Clark). 

2d North Carolina Regt (Col. John 
Patton). 

3d North Carolina Regt. (Col Jethro 
Sumner). 

4th North Carolina Regt. (Col. Thos. 
Polk). 

5th North Carolina Regt. (Lieut. Col. 
Wm. L. Davidson). 

6th North Carolina Regt. (Col. 
Gideon Lamb). 

7th North Carolina Regt. (Col. James 
Hogun):. 

8th North Carolina Regt. (Col. 
James Armstrong). 

qth North Carolina Regt. (Col. John 
Williams). 



The returns of the artillery and cavalry arms with the army at Valley Forge 
are not included in the above War Department Records. 



90 



Artillery 

American Regt. of Artillery, Colonel- 
in-Chief, Brig.-Gen. John Knox. 

1st Battalion, Col. John Crane. 

2d Battalion, Col. John Lamb. 

Independent Corps, Lieut. -Col. Ebe- 
nezer Stevens. 

1st Pennsylvania State Regt. of 
Artillery, Col. Thomas Proctor. 

Harrison's (Virginia) Artillery, Col. 
Charles Harrison. 



Cavalry 

ist Continental Regt. of Light Horse, 
Col. Theodorick Bland. 

2d Regt. of Light Dragoons, Col. 
Elisha Sheldon. 

3d Regt. of Light Dragoons, Col. 
George Baylor. 

T!:j 4th Cavalry, Col. Stephen 
Moylan. 

Lee's Corps of Partizan Light 
Dragoons. 

Pulaski Legion, Count Casimer 
Pulaski, Commander. 

*Evidences have also been found of record indicating that the organizations 
named below, which do not appear on the "return" of December 31st, 1777, also 
formed a part of the army at Valley Forge, viz. : 



2d Virginia State Regt. 
Van Schaik's Regt. 
Lee's Regt. 
Henley's Regt. 
Smith's Detachment. 



Jackson's Detachment. 
Capt. Selin's Independent Corps. 
Gen. Lacey's Militia. 
Pennsylvania Militia. 



"Report from the Adjutant General, U. S. A. War Department, Washington, D. C. 



Commanders of Divisions 

Major-Gen. John Sullivan. 
Major-Gen. Lord Stirling. 

(William Alexander.) 
Major-Gen. Nathaniel Greene. 
Major-Gen. Baron de Kalb. 
Brig.-Gen. Anthony Wayne. 



Quartermaster General 

Major-Gen. Thomas Mifflin, suc- 
ceeded March 2nd, 1778, by Major- 
Gen. Nathaniel Greene. 



Unattached 

Major-Gen. Arthur St. Clair. 
Major- Gen. Paul J. G. deM. Lafayette. 

Inspector General 

Major- Gen. Frederick William von 
Steuben. 

Engineer of Defenses 

Brig.-Gen. Louis L. Du Portail. 

Deputy Muster Master 

Brig.-Gen. Wm. Bradford, Jr. 




91 



flRonumental Hrt in Hmerica 



TT^OR the preservation of historical facts and the glory of great men 
and deeds, the world is indebted chiefly to the builder of monuments. 
The printed page, the written manuscript will fade from sight, but stone 
and bronze are enduring. 

That the encouragement of Monumental Art in America has devel- 
oped greatly within recent years is an evidence of the higher plane of our 
civilization not less than the larger wealth of the people. 




The beauty and interest of the cities of Europe are due in a great 
degree to the splendor and abundance of their Monuments and Statues. 

No other epoch in this country has led in directing public attention 
to this field of art to the same extent as the Civil War. In the course of 
their business as specialists in Military Monuments, The Van Amringe 
Granite Company, of Boston, has led all competitors, both in point of 
excellence in design and execution, and the number of monuments they 
have erected. 



92 



This company has furnished 97 Regimental Memorials, and three 
Pedestals for Equestrian Statues at Gettysburg ; 20 Regimental Memorials 
at Antietam ; 37 Regimental Memorials and State Memorials for Mary- 
land, Ohio and Iowa, at Chicamauga, Ga. 

In the same line of work The Van Amringe Granite Company 
has erected G. A. R. Monuments at the following places : 



Bellefonte, Pa. 

Meadville, Pa. 

Cambridge, Ohio. 

Ypsilanti, Ohio. 

Big Rapids, Mich. 

Walcefield, Mass. 

Garden, Mass. 

Upton, Mass. 
Branford, Mass. 

New London, Conn. 

South Norvvalk, Conn; 

West Haven, Conn. 

Norwich, Conn. 

Bristol, R. I. 

Kingston, R. I. 




The amount and variety of designs which have been executed for 
other purposes, including private work, is too large to specify in this space. 

The Van Amringe Granite Company will prepare designs and 
submit estimates Free of Charge to any committee or commission, guar- 
anteeing quality, durability and orginality at moderate prices. 

Address 

ITbe IDan amringe (Brantte dompani^ 

172 Tremont Street, 
Boston, Mass. 



93 



MAY 17 1911 



To Valley Forge 

Via the 

PHILADELPHIA & READING RAILWAY 

SCHUYLKILL DIVISION 




'ALLEY FORGE is reached from the Reading 
Terminal, Spring Garden Street and Columbia 
Avenue Stations of the Philadelphia & Reading 
Railway via the trains of the Schuylkill Division. 
Distance 24 miles. Fare for round trip, 94 
cents. Special rates for parties and excursions 
on application to Edson J. Weeks, General Pas- 
senger Agent, Reading Terminal. 

The station at Valley Forge is close by the 
Washington Headquarters, and but a short walk 
from the Washington Inn, the picnic grounds 
and Valley Creek boat landing. Upon the high 
ground to the east and south are the well pre- 
served revolutionary entrenchments and redoubts. 

Massive granite markers indicate sites of brigade cantonments. Upon the 

summit of Mount Joy is the lofty observatory affording a grand view of 

the reservation and surrounding country. More distant to the southward is 

the Boulevard of the outer line of defense, upon 

which is located the noble equestrian monument 

to General Wayne. Carriages may be engaged 

for the tour of the park at the Washington Inn. 

There is no charge for admission to any feature 

upon the reservation. Courteous park guards are 

at hand to assist or direct all visitors. 

Valley Forge Park is unrivalled as a resort 

for local excursions of societies, schools and special 

parties, combining as it does beautiful scenery, 

great historic object lessons and every conven- 
ience. Boats may be had for rowing upon the 

Valley Stream. Meals and lunches are provided 

for at several places and there is a good pavilion 

for basket parties. 

94 




ip n 







M 



V 



> 



I 



•JulUiat 



E MAPi 

ILLUSTRA-TIONJ 



>■ — n- ^% ^^ _X.^ .A^^A 




.. J 4. ..u. i..n^»inn nf the outer line Boulevatd and Gulf Road. 
The National Washington Memorial Arch to cost $,00,000 is bem. erected at '^'^-^^ J;; J^^, „f oiover's Brigade. 
The Massachusetts Memorial, dedicated June J9th, I9t J, is placed near the abore .n front 



Mi 








lence. l3oats may De naa ror rowing upon mc 
Valley Stream. Meals and lunches are provided 
for at several places and there is a good pavilion 
for basket parties. 

94 




le ni 



FORGE 




A Chronicle of 
American Heroism 



•MPLETE MAP AN 
ILLUSTRA'TION 



Price, 35 cts. net- In Cloth Cover, 50 ots. net. 



HOW TO REACH VALLEY FORGE 

Phila. & Reading Ry., Schuylkill Division to Valley Forge Station, 24 miles 
from Market street Terminal. Single fare, 58 cents; round trip, 94 cents. Rate 
for 25 or more persons 60 cents. Half fare for children under 12 or over 5 
years of age. Excursion rate for parties of 300 or more, 50 cents. Arrange 
through office of General Passenger Agent, Reading Terminal. 



Pennsylvania Railroad, Schuylkill Valley Division, to Betzwood Station, 
opposite to Port Kennedy. Two and a half miles from Valley Forge at Head- 
quarters, or three fourths of a mile from the outer line Boulevard. 



Pennsylvania Railroad via main line to Devon Station, three miles S. W. 
from the entrance to Valley Forge Park at Fort Washington. Carriages may 
be had by special arrangement at Devon. 



Automobile parties to Valley Forge leaving the city go (i) via Lancaster 
Pike or Montgomery Pike to Bryn Mawr and thence via Gulf Mills road past 
King of Prussia Hotel, turning right at Port Kennedy road, and left at the 
junction of Outer Line Boulevard; 

(2) or continue upon Lancaster or Montgomery Pikes to Devon, thence 
turning right for direct road, to the Reservation via New Centreville. 



Meals or lunches may be had at: Washington Inn, Valley Forge; Valley 
Forge Inn; The Mansion House, Valley Forge; The King of Prussia Inn; Devon 
Inn (closed in winter); Hotel Port Kennedy. 

IMPORTANT FEATURES TO BE SEEN 
AT VALLEY FORGE PARK 

Washington's Headquarters (free). 

Site of the Forge, half mile up the stream. 

Inner line of entrenchments extending from near the Schuylkill river to 
south flank of Mti Joy, about one and a half miles. 

Fort Huntingdon, three-fourths mile east from Headquarters. 

Fort Washington, one and a half miles south from Headquarters. 

Observatory upon the summit of Mt. Joy, free. 

Old school house, built by Laetitia Penn and used as a hospital in 1778, upon 
Washington Lane, near Fort Washington. 

Wayne Equestrian Monument, Outer Line Boulevard two miles south of 
Headquarters. 

This splendid bronze was erected by the State of Pennsylvania at a cost of 
$30,000, under the direction of a special commission composed of Col. John P. 
Nicholson, Richard M. Cadwallader, Esq., and John A. Herman, Esq. 

Site of the Star Redoubt and Headquarters of Genl. James M. Varnum of 
Rhode Island, upon River road one mile east from Headquarters. 

Waterman Monument, half mile east from Star Redoubt. 

Colonial Springs and the historic Slab Tavern. Reached by good road up the hill 
upon west side of Valley stream (see page 96). Visitors welcome. 

Various reproductions of Continental huts, cannon marking sites of batteries, 
brigade markers, etc. 

The headquarters of^ a number of generals are located upon or near the 
Reservation, but being private property are not usually open to visitors. 



SLOCUM CO., PRINTERS, 718-72A ARCH ST., PM 1 LAiOEtP^H I A 



